American Trust Sells 5,349 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

American Trust reduced its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,976 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,349 shares during the period. American Trust's holdings in Paychex were worth $3,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after acquiring an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $279,351,000 after acquiring an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $212,267,000 after buying an additional 113,856 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $131.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. The trade was a 50.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value 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. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $140.98. The stock had a trading volume of 2,138,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,772,002. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $50.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.10, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $142.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.83. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The business 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%. The company's revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is 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.