Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by DF Dent & Co. Inc.

DF Dent & Co. Inc. reduced its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 34,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 355 shares during the quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 220.7% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Paychex Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $153.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.32, a PEG 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $148.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.79. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. 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 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.