Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Trims Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,574 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,297 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Paychex by 8.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,179,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $251,348,000 after acquiring an additional 168,773 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 15.8% during the third quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 2,797 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 2.9% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 6,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP lifted its position in Paychex by 160.4% during the third quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 7,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 6.6% during the third quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 3,177 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $125.46 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $122.19 and a 200 day moving average of $122.04. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $129.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 85.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

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.