Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Stake Trimmed by Kentucky Trust Co

Kentucky Trust Co lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 98.0% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 3,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Paychex by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 118,140 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Paychex by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PAYX shares. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Paychex in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $148.20.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $129.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $46.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 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 12 month low of $128.23 and a 12 month high of $161.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $138.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.53.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.