Brophy Wealth Management LLC Makes New $232,000 Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Brophy Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after buying an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $279,351,000 after acquiring an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after acquiring an additional 212,700 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. This trade represents a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $142.39 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. The company has a market cap of $51.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $142.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” 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 stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.