Brookstone Capital Management Purchases 13,616 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 449.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,643 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,616 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in Paychex were worth $2,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Golden State Equity Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 7,623 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,176,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in 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. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 3,179 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its stake in Paychex by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,148 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 4,120 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on Paychex and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on Paychex and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $149.11.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $144.91. The company had a trading volume of 3,500,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,153. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.15. The stock has a market cap of $52.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.19. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 94.53%.

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.