BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 7,962 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 54,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,962 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 3.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted 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 worth $212,267,000 after acquiring an additional 113,856 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 7.2% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,703,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $202,016,000 after acquiring an additional 114,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its position 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 valued at $210,282,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Paychex Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $141.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly 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. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PAYX. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.62.

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.