Grimes & Company Inc. Sells 50,384 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Grimes & Company Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 29.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,595 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 50,384 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $18,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 64,816 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 18.9% during the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,550 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.6% in the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 14,642 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,259,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter worth about $421,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in Paychex by 4.1% during the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 4,166 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.55.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.16 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $152.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,567,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,902,433. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.94 billion, a PE ratio of 32.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The business's 50-day moving average price is $151.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.55.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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.