Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Lowers Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH decreased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 52.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 19,534 shares during the quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Monument Capital Management increased its holdings in Paychex by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $158.97 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $159.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.39. The stock has a market cap of $57.26 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.