Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) is Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,659 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,140 shares during the period. Paychex accounts for 3.7% of Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,772,544,000 after purchasing an additional 166,155 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,339,463,000 after purchasing an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,115,000 after purchasing an additional 694,651 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.55.

Paychex Stock Up 0.3%

PAYX opened at $159.78 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $150.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 90.00%.

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.