Shell Asset Management Co. Sells 126 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Shell Asset Management Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 122,019 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,110,000 after buying an additional 7,073 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,261,000. Prana Capital Management LP bought a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,290,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 456,851 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $64,060,000 after acquiring an additional 76,410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Paychex by 44.2% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 53,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,496,000 after purchasing an additional 16,385 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $155.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $145.71. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The company has a market cap of $56.18 billion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

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.