Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,020 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,099,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 729,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $97,856,000 after acquiring an additional 146,421 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 359,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,288,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $143.02 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $51.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G 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 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $158.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $147.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.78.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex 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.