Baldwin Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Baldwin Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 35.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 895 shares during the quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 286.0% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 227.6% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. American National Bank boosted its holdings in Paychex by 166.7% in the second quarter. American National Bank now owns 288 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in Paychex by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3 %

PAYX opened at $145.71 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $52.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $140.87 and its 200 day moving average is $130.48. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.40% 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.