YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 1,805 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,142 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,805 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after buying an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,772,544,000 after acquiring an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,339,463,000 after purchasing an additional 126,962 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $674,115,000 after purchasing an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock traded up $1.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $152.25. 4,287,897 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,923,205. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $151.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.84 billion, a PE ratio of 31.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 31.99%. Paychex's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup set a $158.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.36.

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.