Norges Bank Buys New Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,297,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $257,699,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,705,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,093,958,000 after acquiring an additional 78,760 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in Paychex by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,051,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $589,319,000 after acquiring an additional 557,101 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Paychex by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,805,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $355,650,000 after acquiring an additional 31,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Paychex by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,455,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $275,451,000 after acquiring an additional 33,467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Paychex in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Stephens reduced their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Paychex from $123.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $106.38.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $100.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $36.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $92.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.68. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $85.45 and a one year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a $1.19 dividend. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.85%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.