Motco Cuts Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Motco cut its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 646 shares during the quarter. Motco’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,773,000 after buying an additional 3,544 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its stake in Paychex by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 128,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,313,000 after purchasing an additional 8,221 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 42.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $217,000. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 20,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $148.76 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $151.86. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $53.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.30.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

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.