FORA Capital LLC Sells 9,845 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

FORA Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 53.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,447 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,845 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $1,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 92,996 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,479,000 after purchasing an additional 6,431 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 131.7% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,199 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3%

Paychex stock traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $151.26. 1,456,472 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,932,081. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $158.37. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $147.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $145.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $54.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Paychex's payout ratio is 90.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

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.