Shelton Capital Management Purchases 847 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Shelton Capital Management grew its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 113.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 19,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,126,000 after buying an additional 10,092 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 17,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,012,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 8.1% during the 1st 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 period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 10,732 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,201,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 297,984 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,335,000 after buying an additional 15,757 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 41,329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.79, for a total value of $4,785,484.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,292,642. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, September 26th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.63.

Paychex Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $117.52 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $115.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.86. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.65, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.97.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 27th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.51% and a net margin of 31.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 13th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 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.