Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $16.18 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 115,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,835 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Paychex were worth $16,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on PAYX. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group lifted 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 1.5 %

PAYX opened at $143.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $147.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.