Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,788,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,397 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.89% of Paychex worth $808,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $215,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,075,000 after acquiring an additional 8,227 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 11,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 2,166 shares during the period. Fielder Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $310,000. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Paychex by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 25,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ PAYX traded up $1.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $121.79. 1,070,110 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,786,053. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.48. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.09 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The company has a market cap of $43.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 77.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.