Legal & General Group Plc Sells 43,150 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,110,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 43,150 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $368,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Paychex by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Paychex by 155.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after buying an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the first quarter valued at approximately $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Paychex by 57.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after acquiring an additional 793,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Paychex by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, 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 in the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $132.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $106.27 and a 12 month high of $137.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $128.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.62.

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.