Moors & Cabot Inc. Sells 174 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Paychex by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Paychex by 85.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $154,263,000 after purchasing an additional 579,136 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,330,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Paychex by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 82,955 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,880,000 after purchasing an additional 10,143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $132.50 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $106.27 and a twelve month high of $137.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $127.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

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.