GTS Securities LLC Decreases Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

GTS Securities LLC lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 97.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,476 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 50,556 shares during the period. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,419,878,000 after buying an additional 174,817 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,772,544,000 after acquiring an additional 166,155 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,339,463,000 after purchasing an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $674,115,000 after purchasing an additional 694,651 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PAYX. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup raised their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.55.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX traded up $1.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $159.33. 1,268,266 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,910,904. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.54, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $159.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $150.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 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.