Ceera Investments LLC Trims Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ceera Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Paychex makes up 1.3% of Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Ceera Investments LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $153.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $154.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $146.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.54. 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 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 analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PAYX. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Company 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.