Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by LVW Advisors LLC

LVW Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 492 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.8% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in Paychex by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 7,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 9,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.2% in the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PAYX. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of 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 lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of PAYX stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, hitting $139.38. The stock had a trading volume of 117,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,810,096. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $131.36 and its 200-day moving average is $125.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 86,832 shares of company stock worth $11,360,630 in the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Paychex

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.