Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Has $282,000 Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt decreased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 24.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Paychex were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 15.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $2,419,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Paychex by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 581,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $81,542,000 after purchasing an additional 23,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $3,872,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PAYX. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.55.

Paychex Trading Down 1.1%

PAYX stock opened at $155.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $55.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a PEG ratio of 4.10 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 quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.34 and a 200-day moving average of $147.32.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.