Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 915,000 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 47,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.25% of Paychex worth $128,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 151.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 831,967 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $111,642,000 after acquiring an additional 12,178 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Paychex by 23.4% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,440 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 1,410 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 156.4% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,555 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 13.2% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,435 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of PAYX traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $146.99. 1,351,126 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,768,920. The company has a market capitalization of $52.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, 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. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The company's 50 day moving average is $147.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio 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.