Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 18.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,858 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 220.7% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 469.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $154.04 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $150.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $161.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.