Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,241 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,241 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Avion Wealth lifted its holdings in Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $145.23 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.70 and a 200-day moving average of $142.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $52.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.