YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,473 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,765,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,787,151,000 after buying an additional 5,549,511 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at $117,809,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 179.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,078,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $156,854,000 after acquiring an additional 692,533 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 209.1% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 838,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $106,311,000 after buying an additional 567,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in Paychex by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,051,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $589,319,000 after acquiring an additional 557,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $100.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Paychex from $116.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Paychex to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 26th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $108.81.

Paychex Stock Down 1.3%

PAYX stock opened at $90.91 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.90. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.89 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 25.84% and a return on equity of 48.52%. Paychex’s revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, January 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 95.15%.

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.