Ewa LLC Buys Shares of 1,347 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ewa LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $184,216,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $177,899,000 after buying an additional 1,147,419 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $674,115,000 after buying an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after buying an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after buying an additional 628,912 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target 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 lifted their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.36.

Paychex Stock Down 0.8%

PAYX opened at $149.12 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $151.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $53.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 31.99%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 90.00%.

About Paychex

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.