Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV

Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,194 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 394 shares during the quarter. Paychex accounts for 1.0% of Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $184,216,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $177,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147,419 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,115,000 after acquiring an additional 694,651 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Paychex by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Paychex by 86.5% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after purchasing an additional 628,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.55.

Paychex Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of PAYX opened at $155.31 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $161.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $150.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.32.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.