Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 768,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,983 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $107,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $184,216,000. Amundi increased its holdings in Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after buying an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Paychex by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after buying an additional 628,912 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after buying an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $78,215,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $151.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $148.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. 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. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given 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 2.60%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.