11,527 Shares in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Purchased by Allianz SE

Allianz SE purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 11,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,613,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $148.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.30. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.58.

About Paychex

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.