Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 4,338 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 83% compared to the typical volume of 2,366 put options.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after purchasing an additional 27,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Paychex by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $151.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.58.

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.