Headlands Technologies LLC Invests $2.33 Million in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,327,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Paychex by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after acquiring an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Paychex Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $154.28 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $158.37. The company has a market cap of $55.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.51.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 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.