Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 2,031 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,031 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $184,216,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $177,899,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147,419 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $674,115,000 after purchasing an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 86.5% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after purchasing an additional 628,912 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup set a $158.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.36.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $137.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.75. The stock has a market cap of $49.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 31.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. 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.