Welch Group LLC Cuts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Welch Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 398,409 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,392 shares during the quarter. Paychex comprises about 2.6% of Welch Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Welch Group LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Paychex worth $60,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 1.7% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,796 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,511,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 17.7% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,633 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $177,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147,419 shares during the last quarter. Exeter Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 12,552 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,937,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $179,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" 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 stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock 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 given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $157.66. 1,993,759 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,914,950. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $159.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.08 dividend. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.