Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 478,987 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 46.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 553,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 478,987 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $77,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $184,216,000. Amundi lifted its stake in Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 86.5% during 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 during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after buying an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $78,215,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

Paychex stock opened at $153.53 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $148.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.79. The firm has a market cap of $55.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders 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 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. 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. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

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.