UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Acquires 5,025 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 23.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,025 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the third quarter worth $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Paychex by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $151.03 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 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.