John B. Gibson Sells 12,370 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of PAYX traded up $1.04 on Thursday, hitting $143.29. 1,834,521 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,976,717. The company has a market capitalization of $51.62 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $148.21. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $121.33 and a one year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Paychex from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of 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 assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $150.20.

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.

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