Beacon Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Beacon Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 51.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 290 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 302 shares during the quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $34,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 142,591 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,984,000 after purchasing an additional 48,444 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Paychex by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 63,899 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,611,000 after buying an additional 11,669 shares during the last quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 2,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 188.1% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,402 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $643,000 after acquiring an additional 3,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PAYX. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays decreased their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.62.

Paychex Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $130.00 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $130.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.80 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $123.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

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 business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

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.