Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 220.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its stake 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 buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’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 value of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of PAYX opened at $154.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $150.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.00%.

Paychex 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.