Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) CFO Sells $1,852,685.25 in Stock

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $141.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $50.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $133.36 and a 200-day moving average of $126.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $144.17.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $642,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $774,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in Paychex by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 14,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,723,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 11,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PAYX. Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

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.