2,435 Shares in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Purchased by SP Asset Management LLC

SP Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Paychex by 155.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter worth $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Paychex by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after buying an additional 793,468 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 over the last 90 days. 11.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.62.

Paychex Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $134.12 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $134.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $48.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.94%.

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.