Ameriprise Financial Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,143,924 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 156,721 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.60% of Paychex worth $300,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 54.8% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,516 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,615,000 after buying an additional 4,076 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its stake in Paychex by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 173,530 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $24,332,000 after buying an additional 17,954 shares in the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $397,000. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $388,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in Paychex by 381.2% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 409 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX traded up $0.32 on Friday, hitting $151.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,120,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,930,983. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $147.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The company has a market capitalization of $54.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

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.