Aspiriant LLC Sells 201 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Aspiriant LLC lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 201 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Paychex by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Paychex by 85.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $154,263,000 after buying an additional 579,136 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 4.9% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 10,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Paychex by 5.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after buying an additional 6,033 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $142.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 234,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,799,918. The stock has a market cap of $51.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $133.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.01. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $144.17.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $676,104.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,177 shares of company stock worth $11,698,870 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Company 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.