Marshall Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 735 shares during the quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,191,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the first quarter valued at approximately $815,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in Paychex by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 16,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after buying an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at $201,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at $3,255,000. Finally, KFG Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PAYX. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.46.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $117.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,072,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,193,838. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $106.27 and a 12 month high of $129.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.75.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. 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 dividend yield of 3.34%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.50% of the stock is 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.