First Hawaiian Bank Has $1.43 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 561,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,302,000 after acquiring an additional 4,612 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 8.1% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 432,146 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,520,000 after buying an additional 32,276 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management raised its holdings in Paychex by 8.7% during the first quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 30,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,542,000 after buying an additional 2,479 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Paychex during the first quarter worth $70,000. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $529,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 12,156 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.02, for a total transaction of $1,373,871.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 53,460 shares in the company, valued at $6,042,049.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 45,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.96, for a total value of $5,724,417.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,474,208. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 12,156 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.02, for a total transaction of $1,373,871.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 53,460 shares in the company, valued at $6,042,049.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 221,916 shares of company stock worth $26,789,753 over the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 in a report on Monday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $114.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $115.00 to $116.00 in a report on Friday, June 30th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, 3M reiterated an “initiates” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.12.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $115.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.21 and a 200 day moving average of $114.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.30. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 29th. The business services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.97. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.10% and a return on equity of 46.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.68 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 9th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.79%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.