IFM Investors Pty Ltd Increases Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,104 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,494 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Paychex were worth $10,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Paychex by 118.5% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 136,876 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $21,117,000 after acquiring an additional 74,245 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Paychex by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $18,404,000 after acquiring an additional 29,320 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,607 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $149.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Paychex Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $147.02 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $152.10 and a 200 day moving average of $147.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.88.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is presently 94.53%.

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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