RWC Asset Management LLP Acquires 8,812 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

RWC Asset Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 213,103 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,812 shares during the quarter. Paychex comprises approximately 1.5% of RWC Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. RWC Asset Management LLP owned about 0.06% of Paychex worth $29,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,681 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 38,655.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in Paychex by 17.4% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 3,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Paychex by 36.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after buying an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Finally, Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 7.4% during the third quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2 %

PAYX opened at $148.51 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.81.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.