Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank lessened its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 96,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,511 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $12,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 21.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $346,000. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $331,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 138.3% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 3,705 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.9% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 32,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,965,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $141.83 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $139.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.65. The company has a market cap of $51.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 over the last ninety days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.