Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 4,338 put options on the company. This is an increase of 83% compared to the average daily volume of 2,366 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $184,216,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Paychex by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,115,000 after acquiring an additional 694,651 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 86.5% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after purchasing an additional 628,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $151.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.