Fiducient Advisors LLC Takes $279,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fiducient Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $1,350,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Paychex by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 3,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 47.9% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 349 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PAYX. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.62.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $129.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $133.12.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $676,104.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $676,104.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Company 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.