Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 581,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,359 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $81,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.83 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $148.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.10. The stock has a market cap of $54.67 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

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.