Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 18,878 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,812,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,743 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $507,000. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 9,333 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PAYX. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. 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. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.08.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $133.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $48.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $137.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $128.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $676,104.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

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.