Forsta AP Fonden Grows Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 123,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Paychex were worth $14,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,472,000 after purchasing an additional 123,268 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,151,000 after purchasing an additional 56,793 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 155.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,793,075.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 over the last three months. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $134.19 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $126.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $48.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $134.47.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

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.