Saratoga Research & Investment Management Sells 830 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Saratoga Research & Investment Management decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 830 shares during the period. Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Monument Capital Management grew its holdings in Paychex by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Adero Partners LLC raised its position in Paychex by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of 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 issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $151.03 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $148.22 and its 200 day moving average is $143.37. The company has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

About Paychex

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.