Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Grows Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,759 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,184 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Paychex by 0.6% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 633,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,294,000 after buying an additional 7,126 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at $508,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Paychex by 52.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 16,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 5,679 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.19 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $140.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $52.61 billion, a PE ratio of 31.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.62.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex 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.