Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Reduces Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 201,855 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,609 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $28,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $184,216,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased their price objective 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 issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.50.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $150.19 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $158.37. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $148.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.04.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 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 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s 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.