Carmel Capital Partners LLC Takes $296,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 151.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 57.6% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 4,617 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $1,604,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 47.5% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Up 1.4 %

PAYX opened at $148.57 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $113.70 and a 12 month high of $149.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $137.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.25.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 in the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.