YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 3,392 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,947 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,392 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Paychex by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 5,086 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Paychex during the second quarter worth about $6,371,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 181,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,419,000 after buying an additional 4,286 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 159,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,968,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 7,531 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock opened at $148.04 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. 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 company has a market cap of $53.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $142.19 and its 200-day moving average is $136.43.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex 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.