Ledyard National Bank Acquires Shares of 2,179 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ledyard National Bank acquired a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 5.6% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.8% in the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.2% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 7,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $873,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.2% during the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total transaction of $1,207,644.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $676,104.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $676,104.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,197.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,223 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,156 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $141.34 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $144.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $134.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.50.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Paychex 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.