Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Sells 12,897 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,897 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Paychex were worth $377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings 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 worth $7,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in Paychex in the second quarter worth $2,796,000. PGGM Investments lifted its stake in Paychex by 57.7% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 21,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,573,000 after purchasing an additional 7,943 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Paychex by 27.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,636,000 after buying an additional 212,700 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.6% during the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $210,282,000 after buying an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $144.49 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $141.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $131.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $52.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.