Access Financial Services Inc. Has $1.67 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Access Financial Services Inc. lessened its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,845 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,986 shares during the period. Paychex makes up about 0.7% of Access Financial Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Access Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 15.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $990,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,419,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 581,529 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $81,542,000 after purchasing an additional 23,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,872,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $153.22 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $55.19 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $151.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PAYX. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.55.

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.

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