HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 19.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,659 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,242 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $2,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 271,772 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $41,921,000 after purchasing an additional 7,797 shares in the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its position in Paychex by 77.6% during the first quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 6,241 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 2,727 shares during the period. Trilogy Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 39.4% during the first quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 20,384 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,145,000 after buying an additional 5,761 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 43.1% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 131,439 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $20,278,000 after buying an additional 39,565 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at about $525,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup set a $158.00 target price on Paychex and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays set a $155.00 price target on Paychex and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 target price on Paychex and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Paychex from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $150.20.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on PAYX
Paychex Stock Down 2.9%
Shares of PAYX traded down $4.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $140.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,333,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,136,468. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $50.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $149.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.62. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.07 and a 52 week high of $161.24.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.
Paychex Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.53%.
About Paychex
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also

Before you consider Paychex, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Paychex wasn't on the list.
While Paychex currently has a Reduce rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of seven stocks and why their long-term outlooks are very promising.
Get This Free Report