Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) CEO John B. Gibson Sells 194 Shares of Stock

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) CEO John B. Gibson sold 194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.31, for a total transaction of $23,340.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 52,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,351,405.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $118.42 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $119.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.27. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.66 and a 12-month high of $141.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.50% and a net margin of 30.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 179.5% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,135,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $129,244,000 after buying an additional 728,857 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 1,186.2% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 777,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $88,518,000 after buying an additional 716,921 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 199.6% during the second quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 981,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,725,000 after purchasing an additional 653,630 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.1% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 30,982,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,476,595,000 after purchasing an additional 642,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 614.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 648,626 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,871,000 after purchasing an additional 557,825 shares in the last quarter. 71.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 23rd. Cowen raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $131.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Friday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.08.

Paychex Company Profile

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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.