Vanguard Group Inc. Has $4.42 Billion Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 174,817 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.75% of Paychex worth $4,419,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,548 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,099,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 23.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 52.1% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 8,505 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,141,000 after buying an additional 2,914 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 76,916 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,321,000 after acquiring an additional 7,334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $136.83.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $150.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,049,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,014. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $54.33 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $148.03 and a 200 day moving average of $143.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

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.