Drake & Associates LLC Has $1.89 Million Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Drake & Associates LLC increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 28.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,707 shares during the quarter. Paychex comprises 0.5% of Drake & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Drake & Associates LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Paychex by 118.5% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 136,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,117,000 after purchasing an additional 74,245 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Paychex by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,404,000 after buying an additional 29,320 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 7.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $147.02 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $52.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $152.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.04.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Paychex from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.11.

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.