Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 8,669 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 110,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,669 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $14,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter worth about $346,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the first quarter worth about $331,000. Shell Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 16,063 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,850 shares during the period. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 138.3% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $784,000 after acquiring an additional 3,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $139.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 50.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.