Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) Stake Cut by Covington Capital Management

Covington Capital Management reduced its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 114,451 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,582 shares during the period. Covington Capital Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2,782.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,717,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,514,786,000 after buying an additional 24,825,695 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 23.8% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,237,537 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $248,742,000 after buying an additional 813,930 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 314.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,001,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,014,000 after buying an additional 759,973 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 27.5% in the first quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,786,888 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $164,149,000 after buying an additional 601,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.3% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,866,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $581,112,000 after buying an additional 588,027 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.60% of the company’s stock.

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ PAYX) opened at 54.91 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.78 and a 12-month high of $63.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $57.34 and its 200 day moving average is $59.08. The firm has a market cap of $19.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.40 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 28th. The business services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 42.65% and a net margin of 25.93%. The firm had revenue of $799 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post $2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 28th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46.

Several brokerages have weighed in on PAYX. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.25 price objective (down previously from $65.00) on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) cut shares of Paychex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “hold” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.16.

In other news, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.82, for a total transaction of $346,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 53,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,100,366.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael E. Gioja sold 7,343 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.40, for a total value of $421,488.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 55,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,193,276.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 92,497 shares of company stock valued at $5,300,889 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc is a provider of integrated human capital management (HCM) solutions for payroll, human resource (HR), retirement and insurance services for small- to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The Company also has operations in Germany. The Company offers services, including Payroll processing, Human Resource Services, and Accounting and Financial Services.