GAMMA Investing LLC Has $1.28 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 99.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738,372 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter worth $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,474,000 after purchasing an additional 737,542 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $187,512,000 after purchasing an additional 657,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,844,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,919,000 after buying an additional 581,410 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $148.20.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $129.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.53. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $128.23 and a 12 month high of $161.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.