Howe & Rusling Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Howe & Rusling Inc. lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,098 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,272 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MWA Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 3,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 9.2% in the third quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 2,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $535,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 694,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $93,252,000 after purchasing an additional 19,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,772,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8 %

PAYX stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.57. The company has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,197.70. This represents a 50.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two equities 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.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.62.

Paychex Profile

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.