New Hampshire Trust Lowers Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

New Hampshire Trust reduced its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Paychex were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Rogco LP grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Rogco LP now owns 8,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Dohj LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 3,242 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $125.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.02 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $122.22 and its 200 day moving average is $122.08.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 85.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.