Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $5.58 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,190 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 80.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,887,000 after acquiring an additional 152,818 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 366.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,485,000 after acquiring an additional 16,391 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $1,400,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 85.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,263,000 after acquiring an additional 579,136 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.46.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 142,823 shares of company stock valued at $16,977,648 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $126.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 501,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,851,736. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $45.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.91 and a 200-day moving average of $121.84.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Paychex 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.