Achmea Investment Management B.V. Has $17.50 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. lessened its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,717 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth boosted 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 acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two investment 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 company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $145.01 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $146.84 and a 200-day moving average of $141.97. The company has a market capitalization of $52.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.