Centiva Capital LP Has $421,000 Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Centiva Capital LP decreased its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 61.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,849 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP’s holdings in Paychex were worth $421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $184,216,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Paychex by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $674,115,000 after acquiring an additional 694,651 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of Paychex by 86.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 628,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $151.65 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $54.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.30.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s payout ratio is 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on PAYX. Citigroup raised 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price 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. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.