Fiduciary Trust Co Acquires 142 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fiduciary Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in Paychex in the second quarter worth $2,796,000. PGGM Investments increased its stake in Paychex by 57.7% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 21,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,573,000 after purchasing an additional 7,943 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.6% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 64,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,657,000 after purchasing an additional 4,001 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after purchasing an additional 212,700 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.62.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $146.27 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $141.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.74. The stock has a market cap of $52.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for 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 posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. Insiders own 11.40% 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.