Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Makes New Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,018 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,472,000 after buying an additional 123,268 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $133.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.91 billion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The business’s 50-day moving average is $127.74 and its 200 day moving average is $123.72.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

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.