Baldwin Investment Management LLC Sells 895 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Baldwin Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 35.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,650 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 895 shares during the period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Paychex by 19.5% in 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 3.8% during the third 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 buying an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Paychex by 27.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,636,000 after acquiring an additional 212,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 175.7% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 331,115 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,257,000 after acquiring an additional 211,010 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.62.

Paychex Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $145.71 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $150.71. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.48. The company has a market capitalization of $52.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was 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 owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,197.70. The trade was a 50.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.