Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 131,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Paychex by 8.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 4.9% during the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 10,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Paychex by 5.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,033 shares during the period. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Paychex during the second quarter valued at $2,796,000. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its position in Paychex by 57.7% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 21,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,573,000 after purchasing an additional 7,943 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $139.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.98 and a twelve month high of $144.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $136.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $127.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. Paychex’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 in the last ninety days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.77.

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.