West Paces Advisors Inc. Sells 97 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

West Paces Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 97 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 307 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Down 6.1 %

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $7.64 on Wednesday, hitting $117.39. The company had a trading volume of 5,163,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,809,930. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.96. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $129.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $122.43 and a 200-day moving average of $122.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.