Tompkins Financial Corp Buys 5,371 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Tompkins Financial Corp raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 73.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,647 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,371 shares during the quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,418,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,623,093,000 after purchasing an additional 487,031 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Paychex by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,520 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex by 5.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,481,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,858,000 after acquiring an additional 246,791 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Paychex by 5.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after acquiring an additional 182,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after acquiring an additional 56,793 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of PAYX stock traded up $0.75 on Wednesday, hitting $125.46. 1,181,740 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,716,642. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $106.27 and a one year high of $129.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.