Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 155.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned about 0.69% of Paychex worth $304,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 48,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,812,000 after purchasing an additional 6,148 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $318,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Paychex by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 52,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,248,000 after purchasing an additional 23,862 shares during the period. Finally, Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $312,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 142,823 shares of company stock worth $16,977,648 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $125.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,371,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,192. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $121.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.80. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.