Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Short Interest Down 14.3% in December

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,850,000 shares, a drop of 14.3% from the November 30th total of 17,330,000 shares. Approximately 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,830,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PAYX traded up $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $140.37. 522,107 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,806,380. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $142.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.55.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Paychex by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 22,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,684,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter valued at $56,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 2nd quarter worth $85,000. IFG Advisory LLC raised its position in Paychex by 6.8% in the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 20,466 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304 shares during the period. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 324.5% during the second quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 16,974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 12,975 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% 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.