Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 378,711 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,923 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC owned 0.11% of Paychex worth $58,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 220.7% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Transactions at Paychex
In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays set a $155.00 price target on Paychex and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $150.20.
Read Our Latest Analysis on PAYX
Paychex Price Performance
Shares of PAYX stock traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $143.29. 1,017,502 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,980,717. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.33 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The stock has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.88. 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 stock's 50-day moving average is $151.49 and its 200-day moving average is $148.18.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.
Paychex Announces Dividend
The firm 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 $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. Paychex's payout ratio is 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.
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