1,724 Shares in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Purchased by Advisor Resource Council

Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 286.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 227.6% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $146.56 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $52.75 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $112.34 and a fifty-two week high of $149.26.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.77.

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.