Somerset Trust Co Increases Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Somerset Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,247 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the quarter. Paychex accounts for about 1.8% of Somerset Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 54.6% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 36,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,056,000 after acquiring an additional 12,732 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 1,089.0% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 95,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,329,000 after acquiring an additional 87,062 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 117.6% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 7,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,059,000 after acquiring an additional 4,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 314,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $157.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $149.61 and a 200 day moving average of $146.59.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

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.