Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) CFO Robert L. Schrader Sells 13,015 Shares

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $142.32. 1,265,346 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,807,635. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $106.27 and a twelve month high of $144.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.89. 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 results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 83.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of 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 issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Paychex by 85.1% in the 1st 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 during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $774,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 4.9% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,033 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Paychex

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.