Courier Capital LLC Sells 130 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Courier Capital LLC reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.7% during the third quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 41,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 10,815 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after purchasing an additional 3,453 shares in the last quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.1% during the third quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.3% during the third quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 14.0% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 3,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,223 shares of company stock worth $10,592,156 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, hitting $141.49. 255,000 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,790,746. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.27 and a 1-year high of $144.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $134.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given 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.

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.