Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Cuts Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Paychex by 227.6% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. American National Bank boosted its position in Paychex by 166.7% during the second quarter. American National Bank now owns 288 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 307 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total transaction of $1,207,644.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $676,104.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. 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 Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. 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 report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.62.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $132.99 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $134.27. The company has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.68 and a 200 day moving average of $123.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

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.