Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by APG Asset Management N.V.

APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 32.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 430,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 104,750 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $47,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Paychex by 8.3% during 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 bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Paychex by 85.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,263,000 after buying an additional 579,136 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $23,330,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 13.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,143 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $132.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.15.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders 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 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PAYX. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.62.

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.