Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 437 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 437 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,812,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,743 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $894,000. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE bought a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $507,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $133.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $47.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.85. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $137.40.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,793,075.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 over the last three months. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

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.