Rench Wealth Management Inc. Purchases 100 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Rench Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Paychex makes up approximately 2.6% of Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $279,351,000 after buying an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after buying an additional 212,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 175.7% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 331,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,257,000 after buying an additional 211,010 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Paychex Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $143.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $51.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $142.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

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.