State Street Corp Has $1.78 Billion Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

State Street Corp increased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 3.68% of Paychex worth $1,775,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 286.0% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 227.6% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the second quarter valued at $30,000. American National Bank lifted its position in Paychex by 166.7% in the second quarter. American National Bank now owns 288 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $142.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $51.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $142.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.27.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,197.70. This represents a 50.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 over the last 90 days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PAYX. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

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.