ORG Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 89.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 494 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 233 shares during the quarter. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 80.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,887,000 after acquiring an additional 152,818 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,229,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Paychex by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after buying an additional 466,890 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 366.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 16,391 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 11,766.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 249,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,751,000 after buying an additional 247,675 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,924.93. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $122.45 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $122.28 and a 200 day moving average of $120.12. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $129.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.56%.

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.