Compass Ion Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Compass Ion Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 23.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,851 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,484 shares during the period. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Paychex by 80.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,887,000 after purchasing an additional 152,818 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 366.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 16,391 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $1,229,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Paychex by 218.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after purchasing an additional 466,890 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex 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 sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $117.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $122.38 and a 200-day moving average of $121.90. The company has a market cap of $42.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

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.