Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Sells 294 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hamlin Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 1,153,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $154,792,000 after purchasing an additional 97,867 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 5.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 13,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. Covenant Partners LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 3.6% in the third quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 12,376 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,661,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 5.5% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 86,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,616,000 after acquiring an additional 4,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $1.35 on Friday, hitting $140.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,237,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,788,984. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $144.17. The company has a market capitalization of $50.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.92, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $134.98 and its 200-day moving average is $126.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Paychex news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $674,005.43. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,608 shares of company stock valued at $9,384,512 in the last ninety days. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.