Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 535,059 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,228 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $74,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in Paychex by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after purchasing an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

Paychex Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $151.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $148.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.23. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.