LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC reduced its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 114,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,018 shares during the quarter. Paychex comprises approximately 2.2% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $16,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,391,000 after acquiring an additional 317,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $146.29 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.31. 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 results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

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

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.