Farther Finance Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,355 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 99.0% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after buying an additional 1,738,372 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,899,000 after buying an additional 1,147,419 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter worth about $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 7.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,663,474,000 after acquiring an additional 737,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 117.6% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $187,512,000 after acquiring an additional 657,871 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Down 0.8%

Paychex stock opened at $129.30 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $138.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $46.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $128.23 and a twelve month high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $148.20.

Paychex Company 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.