Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Purchases 4,184 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 21.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,759 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,184 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after acquiring an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 384,184 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Paychex by 27.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,636,000 after buying an additional 212,700 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in Paychex by 175.7% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 331,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,257,000 after buying an additional 211,010 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.19 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.17, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This represents a 50.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

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.