Fifth Third Bancorp Reduces Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 639 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,807,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,907,314,000 after purchasing an additional 286,818 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 7.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,663,474,000 after buying an additional 737,542 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Paychex by 3.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,989,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $769,731,000 after buying an additional 181,628 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Paychex by 0.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,135,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $637,993,000 after buying an additional 30,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in Paychex by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,102,000 after buying an additional 1,738,372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays set a $155.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $146.50.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $126.69 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $145.22. The company has a market capitalization of $45.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $126.13 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.53%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.