Oak Associates Ltd. OH Cuts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Oak Associates Ltd. OH cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,715 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Oak Associates Ltd. OH’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 12,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after buying an additional 1,039 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $221,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its stake in Paychex by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 752.9% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 86,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,246,000 after purchasing an additional 75,937 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research 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 for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. 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 research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $135.09 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $136.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.41. The firm has a market cap of $48.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Paychex 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.