Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Trims Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. trimmed its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,407 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 293 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 82,091 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 0.6 %

Paychex stock opened at $146.10 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $151.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $143.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $52.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.