Brighton Jones LLC Has $608,000 Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 8.3% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after buying an additional 4,703 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Paychex by 85.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 579,136 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $23,330,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 82,955 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,880,000 after purchasing an additional 10,143 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817 over the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $133.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $106.27 and a twelve month high of $137.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $128.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.82.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

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.