Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stake Trimmed by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 293,674 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,847 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Paychex worth $41,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Paychex by 27.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $132,636,000 after purchasing an additional 212,700 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 169.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.2% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX traded up $1.64 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $150.04. The stock had a trading volume of 1,094,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,738,811. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company's revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex's payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.