SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 55.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,728 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $16,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Paychex by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 65,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,761,000 after buying an additional 4,242 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 18,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 30.0% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 143,047 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,960,000 after acquiring an additional 33,047 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the second quarter worth approximately $10,038,000. Finally, Clear Rock Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.4% in the second quarter. Clear Rock Advisors LLC now owns 23,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,743,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,673 shares of company stock worth $5,636,085 in the last three months. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $138.65. 1,776,714 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,834,330. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $130.45 and a 200 day moving average of $124.83.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

About Paychex

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.