Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 3,467 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 286.0% in the second 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 raised its stake in Paychex by 227.6% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. American National Bank boosted 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 last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $142.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.26. The firm has a market cap of $51.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 50.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.