Howland Capital Management LLC Has $7 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Howland Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,520 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,418,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,623,093,000 after acquiring an additional 487,031 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Paychex by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,204,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,520 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Paychex by 5.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after acquiring an additional 182,648 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after acquiring an additional 56,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Paychex by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.46.

Paychex Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching $117.06. 1,609,294 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,844,507. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.27 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.48. The firm has a market cap of $42.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Company 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.