GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Acquires New Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 68,209 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,564,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after buying an additional 174,817 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,772,544,000 after buying an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,339,463,000 after buying an additional 126,962 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Paychex by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $674,115,000 after buying an additional 694,651 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased 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. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded up $2.88 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $158.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,759,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,925,448. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $159.24. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $148.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.30. 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 firm has a market cap of $57.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Paychex's payout ratio is 90.00%.

About Paychex

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.