Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Holdings Lowered by Rise Advisors LLC

Rise Advisors LLC cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 414 shares during the period. Paychex makes up approximately 0.3% of Rise Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Rise Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 2.6 %

PAYX traded up $3.53 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $139.59. 977,124 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,613,403. 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 fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.06. The stock has a market cap of $50.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

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.