Pensionfund Sabic Grows Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Pensionfund Sabic increased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 23.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the quarter. Pensionfund Sabic’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Paychex by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after purchasing an additional 212,700 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its position in shares of Paychex by 4.6% during the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $210,282,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 7.2% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,703,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $202,016,000 after acquiring an additional 114,132 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,557,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 169.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 4,799 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $1.72 on Monday, reaching $137.95. 299,844 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,008,768. The company has a market capitalization of $49.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $142.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.