Haverford Trust Co Has $589,000 Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Haverford Trust Co trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 131 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $589,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Czech National Bank increased its position in Paychex by 8.3% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Paychex by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,033 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in Paychex in the second quarter valued at about $2,796,000. PGGM Investments lifted its stake in Paychex by 57.7% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 21,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,573,000 after buying an additional 7,943 shares during the period. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new position in Paychex during the first quarter worth about $614,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $145.84 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The company has a market capitalization of $52.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released 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 for 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%. Paychex’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. This represents a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.