Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC Purchases New Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,418,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,623,093,000 after purchasing an additional 487,031 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,520 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after acquiring an additional 182,648 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after purchasing an additional 56,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in Paychex by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $118.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 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 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.27 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.84.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.