Exeter Financial LLC Buys 376 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Exeter Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,867 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the quarter. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 80.2% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,887,000 after acquiring an additional 152,818 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 366.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 16,391 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,229,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Paychex by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after acquiring an additional 466,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.17 on Thursday, reaching $117.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,201,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,804,707. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.96. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $129.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $122.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Paychex

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.