Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) by 1.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 562,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,765 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Paychex were worth $63,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Syntal Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 0.9% in the third quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc raised its position in shares of Paychex by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc now owns 1,884 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.9% during the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,216 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 6.3% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. 71.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $117.00 to $114.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $123.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on Paychex to $130.00 in a report on Friday, December 2nd. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Paychex in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Paychex from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.69.

Paychex Stock Up 1.6 %

PAYX stock opened at $108.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $39.17 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.76. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 45.50%. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 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.