Archer Investment Corp Has $132,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Archer Investment Corp raised its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 9.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 987 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Czech National Bank increased its position in Paychex by 8.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 5.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after buying an additional 6,033 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,796,000. PGGM Investments grew its position in Paychex by 57.7% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 21,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,573,000 after buying an additional 7,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 5,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 2.0 %

PAYX opened at $142.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $139.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, 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 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 approximately $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % 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 valued at $7,577,231 over the last ninety days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

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.