First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,085 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 398 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,472,000 after buying an additional 123,268 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 12.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Paychex by 155.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Paychex by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $279,351,000 after purchasing an additional 384,184 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after purchasing an additional 793,468 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $141.53 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $133.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.31, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $144.17.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $676,104.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 87,177 shares of company stock worth $11,698,870. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Company 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.