LPL Financial LLC Acquires 146,421 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 25.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 729,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,421 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $97,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Paychex by 12.3% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 371,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,895,000 after acquiring an additional 40,712 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,771,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $85,000. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,764,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $144.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.98. The stock has a market cap of $51.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 83.58%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.62.

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.