S.A. Mason LLC Has $1.26 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.4% in the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 3,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 4,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 965 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $152.25 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $151.98 and its 200 day moving average is $147.82. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $54.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

Paychex Company 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.