Sara Bay Financial Purchases 97 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sara Bay Financial lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,505 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Paychex comprises about 0.4% of Sara Bay Financial’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Paychex were worth $982,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,419,000. D Orazio & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 2,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 581,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $81,542,000 after purchasing an additional 23,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,872,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.55.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $159.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.12. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

About Paychex

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.