Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $2.16 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 196.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,078 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. grew its holdings in Paychex by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 2,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the period. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $435,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Paychex by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 70,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,528 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 7,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $1.65 on Friday, hitting $131.20. 1,798,939 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,831,250. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.79. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $132.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $47.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.62.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

About Paychex

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.