Whittier Trust Co. Has $3.14 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Whittier Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 18.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,327 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,447 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 117.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,057 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $569,000 after buying an additional 2,191 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,241,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 108,122 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,161,000 after acquiring an additional 8,152 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 946 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Paychex from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Citigroup set a $158.00 price target on Paychex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.20.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $143.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,834,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,976,717. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.28. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $121.33 and a one year high of $161.24. The firm has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.88. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $151.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.18.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Paychex

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.