Chase Investment Counsel Corp Has $517,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Paychex by 5.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,033 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 33.0% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,933 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.3% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 378,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,404,000 after purchasing an additional 25,852 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 17.3% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 405,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,745,000 after buying an additional 59,630 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $148.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $113.87 and a one year high of $150.71. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $128.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.27 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released 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. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Company 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.