Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 186,658 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 424,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 186,658 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $59,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 151.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after buying an additional 5,872 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,351,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $153.48 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $146.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.43. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $154.98. 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 company has a market cap of $55.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

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.