Distillate Capital Partners LLC Has $15.76 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 121,829.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 132,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,794 shares during the quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $15,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 286.0% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 227.6% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the first quarter worth $31,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $134.06 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $106.27 and a one year high of $137.40. The company has a market cap of $48.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.28 and a 200-day moving average of $123.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 in the last three months. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.08.

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.