Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC

Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,220 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,169 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Paychex by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Paychex by 6.2% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Paychex by 6.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 151.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $148.51 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $144.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.60. The company has a market cap of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.27, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.