Clarius Group LLC Boosts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Clarius Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,605 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Paychex by 98,060.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 6,093,804 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $681,714,000 after purchasing an additional 6,087,596 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 102,768.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,537,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $524,359,000 after buying an additional 4,533,137 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 27.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,757,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,347,252,000 after buying an additional 2,528,158 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 56.8% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,380,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $501,960,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,896,000. 72.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, September 28th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, September 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.63.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 41,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.79, for a total transaction of $4,785,484.91. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,292,642. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3 %

Paychex stock traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $116.75. 192,300 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,906,544. The company has a market cap of $42.17 billion, a PE ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.97. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 27th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.40% and a return on equity of 46.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 14th will be paid a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 13th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.73%.

Paychex Profile

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.