Mission Wealth Management LP Sells 69 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mission Wealth Management LP lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Paychex were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Paychex by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $152.10 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $145.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.17. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $154.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently 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.