Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Position Reduced by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp cut its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,498 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.05% of Paychex worth $26,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after buying an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Paychex by 2,404.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its stake in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $148.40 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $151.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $143.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.13. The company has a market capitalization of $53.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.