B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,638 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,418,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,623,093,000 after acquiring an additional 487,031 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,520 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,481,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,858,000 after acquiring an additional 246,791 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after acquiring an additional 182,648 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after acquiring an additional 56,793 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $125.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.06. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $106.27 and a 12 month high of $129.70. The company has a market capitalization of $45.16 billion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. 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%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 85.40%.

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.