KRS Capital Management LLC Sells 978 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

KRS Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,594 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 978 shares during the period. KRS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Rogco LP grew its position in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Rogco LP now owns 8,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Dohj LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 3,242 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.62.

Paychex Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $118.56. 6,556,909 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,064,830. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.98. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $106.27 and a one year high of $129.70. The company has a market cap of $42.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The company 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%. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.94%.

About Paychex

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.