Clarius Group LLC Increases Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Clarius Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 49.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,571 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,419,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 41,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,717,000 after purchasing an additional 8,958 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 13,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Paychex by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 10,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $150.32 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.60. The firm has a market cap of $54.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $161.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors 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 2.87%. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.