Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Decreases Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lessened its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 20.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 52,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,264 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Paychex by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 85.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,263,000 after purchasing an additional 579,136 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $23,330,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $774,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $132.99 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $125.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $123.25. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $134.27.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on 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 boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.62.

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.