Daymark Wealth Partners LLC Sells 146 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Paychex by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 32.6% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,404,000 after purchasing an additional 29,320 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Paychex by 15.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Paychex by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 581,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $81,542,000 after purchasing an additional 23,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 122.1% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 64,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 35,407 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup set a $158.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.36.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $137.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $49.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $151.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $147.75. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 31.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.00%.

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.