Wealthfront Advisers LLC Sells 14,312 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC trimmed its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 90.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,436 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 14,312 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cushing Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $860,000. Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 422,634 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $59,262,000 after buying an additional 5,358 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 11,234 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,575,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,438,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.23.

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Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX traded down $2.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $143.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,756,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,913. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The stock's 50-day moving average is $147.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.55.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Paychex's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.