Riverbridge Partners LLC Sells 1,439 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Riverbridge Partners LLC decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,439 shares during the quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in Paychex by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 152.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 805.9% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.6 %

PAYX opened at $144.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $142.14 and a 200 day moving average of $135.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. The company has a market cap of $52.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.