Bleakley Financial Group LLC Has $950,000 Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 246 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,171,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its stake in Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 4,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 8,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $124.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.09 and a twelve month high of $129.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $122.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.56%.

Paychex declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,924.93. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.