Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by YHB Investment Advisors Inc.

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,197 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,931,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,451,943,000 after buying an additional 170,453 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Paychex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,331,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,306,849,000 after buying an additional 927,584 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 0.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,982,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $913,599,000 after buying an additional 62,739 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 2.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,797,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $783,975,000 after buying an additional 178,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 102,768.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,537,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $524,359,000 after buying an additional 4,533,137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $123.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $44.28 billion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $104.09 and a 12-month high of $129.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $122.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.06.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, January 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,924.93. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.