Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $16.96 Million Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 30.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 143,047 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,047 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Paychex were worth $16,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Paychex by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Paychex by 85.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $154,263,000 after buying an additional 579,136 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $23,330,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $774,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PAYX. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $139.36 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $130.19 and a 200-day moving average of $124.70. 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 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $142.04. The company has a market capitalization of $50.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of Paychex 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $676,104.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,673 shares of company stock valued at $5,636,085. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

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.