Headlands Technologies LLC Invests $313,000 in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,472,000 after buying an additional 123,268 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Paychex by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after purchasing an additional 56,793 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its position in Paychex by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Paychex by 155.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value 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. Insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 in the last 90 days. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Trading Up 0.7 %

Paychex stock opened at $135.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $48.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.41. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $136.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS 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 return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

Paychex 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.