Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $6.10 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,500 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in Paychex were worth $6,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $1.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,052,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,726,092. The company has a market capitalization of $53.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $151.72.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.