Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Position Boosted by Fortitude Family Office LLC

Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $34,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 37.6% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,418 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the first quarter worth about $3,255,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 17.7% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 16,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.7% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Paychex by 6.1% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 74,909 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,199,000 after acquiring an additional 4,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,608 shares of company stock worth $9,384,512 over the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $141.39 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $135.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.19. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $144.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.