Godsey & Gibb Inc. Sells 2,006 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Godsey & Gibb Inc. reduced its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,518 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,006 shares during the period. Paychex comprises 2.4% of Godsey & Gibb Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Godsey & Gibb Inc.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $23,993,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $2,419,000. D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 2,654 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 581,529 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $81,542,000 after buying an additional 23,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $142.55.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $2.81 during trading on Monday, hitting $156.97. 1,487,212 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,907,437. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $150.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.26. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 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 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. 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 2.75%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

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.