Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Position Decreased by Cypress Capital Group

Cypress Capital Group cut its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,044 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 86,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,253,000 after acquiring an additional 8,208 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Kanawha Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 4,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 688,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $92,335,000 after acquiring an additional 53,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 131,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,690,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $152.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.09. 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 firm has a market cap of $54.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $154.98.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex 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.