Woodstock Corp Lowers Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Woodstock Corp lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 51.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,593 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,658 shares during the quarter. Woodstock Corp's holdings in Paychex were worth $246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Monument Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Adero Partners LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MWA Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,007 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.55.

Paychex Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $158.25. 1,459,485 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,911,153. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $149.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $57.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company 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%. Paychex's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.00%.

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.