Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,883 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 171 shares during the period. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $215,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 4,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,350,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,104,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $131,579,000 after acquiring an additional 97,721 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PAYX. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $129.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.27 and a 1-year high of $133.12. The company has a 50 day moving average of $124.75 and a 200-day moving average of $123.07.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.94%.

Paychex 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.