Toronto Dominion Bank Purchases 1,945 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,140 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,945 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Paychex were worth $16,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 220.7% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth raised its stake in Paychex by 469.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $158.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.89. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.

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