Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 29,983 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 768,516 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 29,983 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.21% of Paychex worth $107,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Avion Wealth raised its stake in Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, MilWealth Group LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $138.83.

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Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded down $1.35 on Thursday, hitting $153.59. 857,378 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,877,975. The business's fifty day moving average is $148.76 and its 200 day moving average is $143.73. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The company has a market capitalization of $55.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

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.