Conning Inc. Sells 21,968 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Conning Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 266,056 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 21,968 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc. owned about 0.07% of Paychex worth $31,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% in the third quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,425 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,779,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 4,003 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 6.3% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,924.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 82,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $120.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

Paychex stock traded down $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $123.00. The stock had a trading volume of 2,004,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,146,834. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $44.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.09 and a 12 month high of $129.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $122.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.09.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. Paychex's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is currently 77.56%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.