Grove Bank & Trust Boosts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 36.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 578 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Paychex were worth $89,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 64,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 18.9% during the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 1.6% during the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 14,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,259,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $421,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP grew its position in Paychex by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 4,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $150.32 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $161.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

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 transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by 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.