Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $10,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. High Falls Advisors Inc lifted its position in Paychex by 3.0% in the third quarter. High Falls Advisors Inc now owns 5,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Executive Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth $260,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the third quarter valued at about $89,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $140.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.57.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 50.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

About Paychex

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.