Coastline Trust Co Sells 1,401 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Coastline Trust Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,401 shares during the quarter. Coastline Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,860,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 220.7% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. 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. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $144.90 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $147.94 and its 200 day moving average is $144.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.51, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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.