Liberty Wealth Management LLC Invests $10.45 Million in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Key Points

• Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake of 67,735 shares in Paychex, Inc. valued at approximately $10.45 million, as revealed in its recent 13F filing.
• Several large investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Northern Trust Corp, significantly increased their holdings in Paychex during the first and fourth quarters.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings of $1.19 per share and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.08, indicating a 3.1% dividend yield for shareholders.

Liberty Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 67,735 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,450,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Summit Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.4% in the first quarter. Summit Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 7,623 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,176,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.4% in the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. King Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in Paychex by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 1,669 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 711 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Paychex in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.20.

Paychex Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $139.45. The company had a trading volume of 306,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,144,972. The firm has a market cap of $50.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.60. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.07 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24.

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, hitting the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is presently 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex 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.