B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Sells 1,082 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lessened its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,082 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 220.7% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its position in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.83.

Paychex Trading Up 0.2 %

PAYX opened at $154.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $148.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.65. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The stock has a market cap of $55.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.67%.

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.