Mackenzie Financial Corp Has $21.73 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 154,968 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,048 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp's holdings in Paychex were worth $21,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 36,057 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,056,000 after acquiring an additional 12,732 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 1,089.0% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 95,057 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $13,329,000 after purchasing an additional 87,062 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its holdings in Paychex by 117.6% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 7,552 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 4,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $157.91. 1,837,597 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,922,036. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $149.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $159.75.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $1.08 dividend. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 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.