Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stake Trimmed by Tyche Wealth Partners LLC

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 29.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,194 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,347 shares during the quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,419,878,000 after buying an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,772,544,000 after buying an additional 166,155 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,339,463,000 after buying an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $674,115,000 after acquiring an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup set a $158.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.36.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $152.25 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $54.84 billion, a PE ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.82. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 90.00%.

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.