Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 27,901 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,901 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.06% of Paychex worth $26,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,418,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,623,093,000 after acquiring an additional 487,031 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Paychex by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,520 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,151,000 after purchasing an additional 56,793 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Paychex by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Paychex by 57.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $267,695,000 after buying an additional 793,468 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $122.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,822,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,770. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $44.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $121.99 and a 200-day moving average of $121.62. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $106.27 and a 12 month high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,869 shares of company stock worth $15,870,933 over the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays reduced their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.46.

Paychex Profile

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.