Grimes & Company Inc. Has $24.01 Million Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Grimes & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 195,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,557 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Paychex worth $24,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 168,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,447,000 after buying an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Paychex by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 11,603 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 72,812 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,397,000 after acquiring an additional 3,803 shares in the last quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at $284,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 12,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. 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 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.62.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $118.56. 6,556,909 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,064,830. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.95.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

Paychex Company 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.