Empowered Funds LLC Has $11.47 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,853 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $11,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 286.0% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 227.6% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, American National Bank raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 166.7% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 0.7 %

PAYX stock traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $144.84. The company had a trading volume of 117,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,858. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $138.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.85. The stock has a market cap of $52.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PAYX. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.77.

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.