Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Nottingham Advisors Inc.

Nottingham Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 355 shares during the period. Nottingham Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Paychex by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 13,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 1.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 143,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,717 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Paychex by 334.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 260,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,966,000 after acquiring an additional 200,640 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its stake in Paychex by 1.9% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 45,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,138,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Paychex by 5.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 13,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.83.

Paychex Trading Up 0.2 %

PAYX opened at $154.94 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $148.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.