Fifth Third Bancorp Lowers Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Paychex by 75.6% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 5,086 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Paychex during the 2nd quarter worth $6,371,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Paychex by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 181,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,419,000 after buying an additional 4,286 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the second quarter valued at about $2,557,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Paychex by 0.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 159,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,968,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $146.11 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $142.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.30. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $52.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.