Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $425,000 Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Paychex were worth $425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Paychex by 12.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 155.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $267,695,000 after acquiring an additional 793,468 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 30.9% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,676,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $205,877,000 after acquiring an additional 395,343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 over the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.77.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $148.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $53.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $113.87 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $137.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 83.58%.

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.