Linscomb Wealth Inc. Sells 191 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 191 shares during the quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Paychex by 5.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 110,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,522,000 after buying an additional 6,033 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 5,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 3,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Spirepoint Private Client LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the first quarter valued at $579,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,472,000 after purchasing an additional 123,268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $142.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $139.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.12. The stock has a market cap of $51.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.