Park National Corp OH Has $1.02 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Park National Corp OH lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 219 shares during the quarter. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,018,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 8.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 85.1% during the 1st 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. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,330,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $774,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

PAYX opened at $139.36 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.27 and a 1-year high of $142.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of $130.19 and a 200-day moving average of $124.70. The stock 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. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,673 shares of company stock worth $5,636,085. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.