Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires 10,618 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 18.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,191 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,618 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in Paychex were worth $9,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,772,544,000 after acquiring an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,339,463,000 after acquiring an additional 126,962 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $674,115,000 after purchasing an additional 694,651 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock traded up $0.32 on Friday, hitting $151.65. 1,120,253 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,930,983. The firm has a market cap of $54.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.30. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.