Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,767 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 30,382.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Paychex by 2,404.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 317,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after acquiring an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $152.10 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $145.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.17. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $154.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued 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 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price 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 target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.