Evergreen Private Wealth LLC Sells 233 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Evergreen Private Wealth LLC reduced its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 233 shares during the quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Novem Group raised its holdings in Paychex by 120.3% during the 2nd quarter. Novem Group now owns 9,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 5,125 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Paychex by 122.4% during the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 1,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Exeter Financial LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 12,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,850,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex during the 2nd quarter valued at $282,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its holdings in Paychex by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 129,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,781,000 after buying an additional 2,014 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $146.50.

Paychex Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $126.69 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $137.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.22. The company has a market capitalization of $45.56 billion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.13 and a 1-year high of $161.24.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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

Paychex 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.