DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Raises Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 49.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,155 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main's holdings in Paychex were worth $723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Barclays PLC increased its position in Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,918,000 after buying an additional 13,702 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 92,996 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,479,000 after buying an additional 6,431 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 131.7% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,199 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays upped 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded up $1.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $155.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,415,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,928,600. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The stock has a market cap of $56.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $147.26 and a 200 day moving average of $145.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.