YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 9.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,674 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 286.0% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in Paychex by 227.6% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the second quarter worth $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, ESL Trust Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $141.43 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $144.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.60. 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 stock has a market cap of $50.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given 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 yield of 2.77%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,223 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,156 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

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.