Albert D Mason Inc. Sells 9,670 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Albert D Mason Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 55.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,662 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,670 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,419,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 23,359 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,872,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $0.27 on Friday, hitting $153.22. 2,525,398 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,904,733. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $151.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.19 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.55.

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.