Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lessened its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,540 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,062 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors grew its position in Paychex by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 155.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the first quarter valued at $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Paychex by 57.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after acquiring an additional 793,468 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its position in Paychex by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given 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 $123.00.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $135.19 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $48.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. 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 firm posted $0.97 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817 in the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.