Insider Selling: Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Director Sells 3,650 Shares of Stock

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Paychex Stock Down 1.4 %

PAYX stock traded down $2.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $145.57. 1,558,080 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,915,286. The company has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $158.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.51.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PAYX. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Paychex by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,339,463,000 after acquiring an additional 126,962 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 16.9% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.