Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 284 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Hartford Investment Management Co. lessened its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 99.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738,372 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147,419 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter worth about $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.3% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 737,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $187,512,000 after purchasing an additional 657,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $145.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $64,878,940.89. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 1.2%

Paychex stock opened at $128.21 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $137.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $145.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $46.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.13 and a 12 month high of $161.24.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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

Paychex Company 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.