Krane Funds Advisors LLC Sells 351 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 351 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,931,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,451,943,000 after acquiring an additional 170,453 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,520 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,481,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $516,858,000 after buying an additional 246,791 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Paychex by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $415,022,000 after buying an additional 182,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after buying an additional 56,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PAYX. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. TD Cowen reduced 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. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, 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. Two equities research 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX traded down $0.68 on Friday, reaching $121.99. 1,144,904 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,751,057. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.00. The stock has a market cap of $43.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.96. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $129.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 85.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

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.