PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators Buys Shares of 59,970 Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators bought a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 59,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,727,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. ABC Arbitrage SA raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 61.4% during the third quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 28,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,726 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,877,000. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 20.6% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 240,564 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,494,000 after acquiring an additional 41,114 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 23.9% during the third quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 99,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,626,000 after acquiring an additional 19,185 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Paychex to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $106.38.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $100.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 0.84. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.45 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $93.17 and a 200 day moving average of $100.42.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 104.85%.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.