Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Sawyer & Company Inc

Sawyer & Company Inc decreased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,732 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 636 shares during the quarter. Paychex accounts for approximately 2.7% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. FMR LLC raised its position in Paychex by 179.5% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,135,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $129,244,000 after acquiring an additional 728,857 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its position in Paychex by 199.6% during the second quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 981,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,725,000 after acquiring an additional 653,630 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 2.1% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,982,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,476,595,000 after acquiring an additional 642,649 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Paychex by 70.8% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,327,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $148,977,000 after acquiring an additional 550,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Paychex by 224.4% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 737,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,801,000 after acquiring an additional 510,432 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 13,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.30, for a total transaction of $1,584,683.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 33,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,835,800.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Paychex in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 22nd. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on Paychex to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Paychex from $117.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Paychex from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.69.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $107.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.30. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $105.66 and a one year high of $141.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $114.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.57.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.50% and a net margin of 30.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.02%.

Paychex Company Profile

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Paychex, Inc engages in the provision of human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, insurance and retirement for small and medium-sized businesses. Its solutions include payroll services, hiring services, business insurance, time and attendance, employee benefits, finance and payments, human resources services and startup services.