ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Sells 379 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 16.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,874 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 379 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $273,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in Paychex by 99.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,738,372 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 20,236.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $177,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147,419 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,474,000 after acquiring an additional 737,542 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $187,512,000 after acquiring an additional 657,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $160.00 to $143.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $145.91.

Paychex Stock Up 1.2%

PAYX opened at $128.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.11 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $126.13 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.09.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.53%.

Paychex Company Profile

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.