ProShare Advisors LLC Has $64.06 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 20.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 456,851 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 76,410 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.13% of Paychex worth $64,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Paychex Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $157.17. 302,153 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,923,285. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $147.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.97.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.00%.

Insider Activity

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

Paychex Company 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.