Sienna Gestion Purchases 498 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sienna Gestion increased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,065 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the quarter. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $304,338,000 after buying an additional 1,508,681 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at approximately $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 57.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $267,695,000 after acquiring an additional 793,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Insider Activity at Paychex

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

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $132.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $127.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.66. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $137.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.