TD Private Client Wealth LLC Trims Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC cut its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 9.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,738 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,146 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $5,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Golden State Equity Partners boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.9% in the first quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 7,623 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,176,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 2.4% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,192 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 3,179 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in Paychex by 7.6% during the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,148 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 4,120 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group cut their target price on Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $149.11.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded down $0.05 on Tuesday, hitting $145.63. 768,996 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,961,616. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $152.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.15. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The firm has a market cap of $52.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.88.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.19. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Paychex's payout ratio is 94.53%.

Insider Activity 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 transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director owned 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.