Tectonic Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 16.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 44,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,248 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 4,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Paychex by 37.6% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,418 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 2,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PAYX. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $141.68 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $134.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.60. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $144.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $50.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,005.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 68,608 shares of company stock worth $9,384,512. 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.