Haverford Trust Co Sells 131 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Haverford Trust Co trimmed its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 131 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 5.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,033 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 5,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC grew its position in Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 3,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at $614,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 313.4% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 224,188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,530,000 after buying an additional 169,952 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. This represents a 50.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 over the last 90 days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.77.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $145.84 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $150.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $138.71 and a 200 day moving average of $128.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

About Paychex

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.