Raymond James Trust N.A. Raises Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,334,000 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 the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 10.9% during the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 90,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,078,000 after buying an additional 17,676 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 729,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $97,856,000 after acquiring an additional 146,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in Paychex by 12.3% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 371,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,895,000 after acquiring an additional 40,712 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.62.

Paychex Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $144.09 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $51.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.58%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This represents a 50.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.