Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Sells 19,534 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 52.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,684 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 19,534 shares during the quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH's holdings in Paychex were worth $2,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Paychex by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,027 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,025,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $2,419,000. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its position in Paychex by 92.1% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 12,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 5,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $155.98. 354,308 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,924,582. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock's fifty day moving average is $148.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $146.04. The company has a market cap of $56.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.82, 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 data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Sell-side 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 will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted 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, Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.