PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Purchases 16,088 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 711,010 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,088 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Paychex worth $99,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $56,918,000 after buying an additional 13,702 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth about $218,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,648 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,604,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 57.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,637 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 4,617 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of PAYX traded down $1.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $145.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,780,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,785,852. The company's 50-day moving average is $146.74 and its 200-day moving average is $141.95. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Company 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.