Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 4,338 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 83% compared to the typical volume of 2,366 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its position in Paychex by 469.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.10.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

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.