Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Holdings Lessened by LaFleur & Godfrey LLC

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,588 shares during the quarter. Paychex makes up approximately 2.4% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 14.3% in the first quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 145,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,377,000 after buying an additional 7,706 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.2% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,558,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.8% in the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 10,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,579,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of PAYX opened at $151.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $54.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $151.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.79.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.36.

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.