ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Reduces Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 30.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 549 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 239 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,472,000 after purchasing an additional 123,268 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Paychex by 12.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after buying an additional 2,373,894 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after buying an additional 56,793 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Paychex by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,492,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 155.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.46.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $125.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,547,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,864,017. The stock has a market cap of $45.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.14. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $129.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 166,872 shares of company stock worth $19,992,573. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.