CWA Asset Management Group LLC Trims Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 533 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dean Investment Associates LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 1.3% during the second quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 18,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,138,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Paychex by 1.2% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 221,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,593 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 13.6% during the third quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 17,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 7.9% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 7,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 89.7% in the third quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $710,000 after acquiring an additional 2,990 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 13,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.30, for a total transaction of $1,584,683.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 33,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,835,800.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on shares of Paychex to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $131.00 to $119.00 in a report on Friday, December 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $123.00 to $116.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.69.

Paychex Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $107.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $114.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.62. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $105.66 and a fifty-two week high of $141.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 45.50%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, February 9th were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 8th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.02%.

Paychex Company Profile

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Paychex, Inc engages in the provision of human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, insurance and retirement for small and medium-sized businesses. Its solutions include payroll services, hiring services, business insurance, time and attendance, employee benefits, finance and payments, human resources services and startup services.