Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Has $5.46 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 53.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,200 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Paychex by 8.3% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 85.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,263,000 after buying an additional 579,136 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $774,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 10,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,033 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded down $0.67 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $141.63. 120,558 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,804,972. The company has a market cap of $50.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.00. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $144.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $132.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.78.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. 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 link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,162 shares of company stock worth $9,846,185 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company 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.