Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases 7,073 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 122,019 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,073 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $184,216,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,115,000 after buying an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after buying an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,746,000 after buying an additional 628,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Paychex Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $154.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $55.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $147.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.59. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

About Paychex

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.