North Capital Inc. Acquires Shares of 551 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 551 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director owned 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 target price on Paychex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.11.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7%

Paychex stock opened at $147.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.28. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.88.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

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.