Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. Lowers Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 19.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $279,351,000 after buying an additional 384,184 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.8% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $212,267,000 after buying an additional 113,856 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,703,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $202,016,000 after buying an additional 114,132 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in Paychex by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,282,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This trade represents a 64.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $144.49 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $141.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $131.11. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $52.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Paychex’s 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.