Traders Buy High Volume of Paychex Put Options (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 4,338 put options on the company. This is an increase of 83% compared to the average daily volume of 2,366 put options.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Monument Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its position in Paychex by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Adero Partners LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on PAYX shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $148.22 and a 200-day moving average of $143.23. The firm has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.67%.

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.