Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 485 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,144,000. Miramar Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 51.9% in the second quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 67,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,032,000 after purchasing an additional 23,138 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion raised its position in Paychex by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 46,065 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,459,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,526,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 40,439 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,755,000 after buying an additional 6,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. Bank of America upped their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $133.26 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $106.27 and a twelve month high of $137.40. The stock has a market cap of $47.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s fifty day moving average is $128.03 and its 200-day moving average is $123.82.

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 return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS 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 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 2.94%. 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.