AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 15,221 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,574 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 15,221 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Paychex worth $34,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $142,055,000 after acquiring an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Paychex by 120.0% in 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 in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,405,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $149.02. 1,291,014 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,920,697. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 simple moving average of $147.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.07.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $1.08 per share. 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 2.90%. Paychex's payout ratio is 90.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

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.