Eastern Bank increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teachers Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 391,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,839,000 after buying an additional 46,364 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.1% in the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 20,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 2.2% in the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 280,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,496,000 after buying an additional 6,157 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Paychex by 5.8% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 7,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 9.7% in the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 59,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,477,000 after buying an additional 5,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.68% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ PAYX) traded up 0.02% during trading on Friday, hitting $54.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,041,361 shares. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $52.78 and a one year high of $63.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $56.62 and its 200-day moving average is $58.78. The firm has a market cap of $19.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44 and a beta of 0.96.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 28th. The business services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $799 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.70 million. Paychex had a return on equity of 42.65% and a net margin of 25.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post $2.37 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 1st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 28th.
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Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised Paychex from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. They noted that the move was a valuation call. BidaskClub cut Paychex from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 6th. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) cut Paychex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Paychex from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.28.
In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 7,139 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.39, for a total value of $409,707.21. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 46,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,671,389.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Martin Mucci sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total value of $1,711,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 237,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,561,488.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 92,497 shares of company stock valued at $5,300,889 over the last 90 days. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Paychex Company Profile
Paychex, Inc is a provider of integrated human capital management (HCM) solutions for payroll, human resource (HR), retirement and insurance services for small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The Company also has operations in Germany. The Company offers services, including Payroll processing, Human Resource Services, and Accounting and Financial Services.
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