Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 1,775 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 210,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,775 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.06% of Paychex worth $25,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,931,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,451,943,000 after purchasing an additional 170,453 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Paychex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,331,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,306,849,000 after acquiring an additional 927,584 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 0.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,982,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $913,599,000 after acquiring an additional 62,739 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,797,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $783,975,000 after buying an additional 178,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 102,768.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,537,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $524,359,000 after buying an additional 4,533,137 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total value of $1,865,924.93. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares in the company, valued at $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $122.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.62.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.56%.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.