Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 18,764 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its Paychex stake by 83.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 18,764 additional shares and bringing its position to 41,248 shares valued at about $4.64 million.
• Several other large institutional investors also increased their Paychex holdings, and the company remains heavily owned by institutions at 83.47%.
• Paychex recently posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results and raised its dividend to $1.19 per share, though analysts remain cautious overall with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a target price of $106.38.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 83.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,248 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 18,764 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' holdings in Paychex were worth $4,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,051,413 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $589,319,000 after acquiring an additional 557,101 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,805,391 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $355,650,000 after acquiring an additional 31,321 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,280,715 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $330,908,000 after acquiring an additional 17,869 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,979,330 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $250,900,000 after acquiring an additional 30,117 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. TD Cowen upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup cut their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $99.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $100.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Paychex from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $106.38.

Paychex Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of PAYX opened at $94.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 0.84. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.45 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $91.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.19 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Paychex's payout ratio is currently 104.85%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas "Tom" Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company's core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers' compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.

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