Rafferty Asset Management LLC Buys 7,073 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,019 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,073 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $17,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings 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 worth $3,772,544,000 after buying an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 126,962 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $674,115,000 after acquiring an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $1.86 on Wednesday, hitting $155.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 329,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,923,451. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $147.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.97. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.