Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Has $31.93 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 269,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned approximately 0.07% of Paychex worth $31,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 4,703 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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 acquiring an additional 579,136 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $23,330,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $774,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.62.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock traded up $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $131.20. 1,798,939 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,831,250. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $132.13. The company has a market capitalization of $47.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $123.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 in the last ninety days. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.