Bollard Group LLC Sells 6,396 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Bollard Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 38.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,396 shares during the quarter. Bollard Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 59.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,395,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,243,295 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Paychex by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,988,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,569,218,000 after acquiring an additional 216,045 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,550,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,295,698,000 after acquiring an additional 263,152 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,705,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,093,958,000 after acquiring an additional 78,760 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $123.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Paychex to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Argus raised shares of Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $106.63.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $100.63 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.45 and a 52 week high of $154.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.07.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. Paychex had a net margin of 25.84% and a return on equity of 48.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a $1.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. 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.