Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 886 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 886 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 979,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $120,286,000 after purchasing an additional 6,020 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.8% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 19,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,349,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 30.9% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,676,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $205,877,000 after purchasing an additional 395,343 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 18.5% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 24,373 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,993,000 after purchasing an additional 3,797 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 123.9% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 204,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,115,000 after purchasing an additional 113,165 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,793,075.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 142,823 shares of company stock worth $16,977,648. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.46.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX remained flat at $125.75 during mid-day trading on Monday. 231,718 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,849,862. The firm has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $121.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $129.66.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.94%.

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.