Somerset Trust Co Has $3.95 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Somerset Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Paychex accounts for approximately 1.6% of Somerset Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,418,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,623,093,000 after buying an additional 487,031 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after buying an additional 1,523,520 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,481,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,858,000 after buying an additional 246,791 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after purchasing an additional 182,648 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after purchasing an additional 56,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX traded up $0.75 on Wednesday, hitting $125.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,181,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,716,642. The company has a market capitalization of $45.16 billion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $122.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.04.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.40%.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.