Swedbank AB Lowers Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Swedbank AB decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 419 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Paychex were worth $20,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $642,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $774,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 35.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 14,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,723,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 1.7% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,162 shares of company stock worth $9,846,185 over the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $142.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $132.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $144.17.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

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.