Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Sells 810 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lowered its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,955 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 810 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after acquiring an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in Paychex by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after acquiring an additional 82,091 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $149.51 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $53.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.48, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $142.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.