National Pension Service Acquires 49,837 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

National Pension Service increased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 539,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,837 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Paychex were worth $60,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,333,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.2% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 41,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 47.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 156,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,790,000 after acquiring an additional 50,169 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Paychex from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Argus raised Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Paychex to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $106.38.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $96.98 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.82. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.45 and a 1-year high of $161.24. The firm has a market cap of $34.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $1.19 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.85%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.