Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 45,721 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,673,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 buying an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 6.8% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $212,267,000 after buying an additional 113,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,703,913 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $202,016,000 after purchasing an additional 114,132 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $131.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $1.91 on Monday, reaching $140.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,692,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,992. The company has a market capitalization of $50.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $142.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $131.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

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 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex's payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

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.