Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Lowers Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,537 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,200 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 220.7% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $149.12 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $161.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $151.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.