Martin Mucci (Insider Trades), CEO and president of Paychex Inc. (PAYX), sold 65,965 company shares on July 7. The price per share was $60.63 for a total transaction of $3,999,458.
Paychex provides human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, retirement and insurance services. The company has a market cap of $22.11 billion and a P/S ratio of 7.49.
The number of insider sells increased from 18 to 34 in 2013 and 2014 and decreased to 30 in 2015. The volume of insider shares sold, however, increased each year, starting with 165,062 shares sold by Paychex insiders in 2013, and rising to 390,242 shares sold by Paychex insiders in 2015. There have been eight insider sells totaling 151,717 shares to date. No Paychex insiders increased their stakes in the company from 2013 to 2015. Mucci sold 523,009 shares in 16 transactions, including the aforementioned transaction. Paychex Vice President Laurie Zaucha (Insider Trades) sold 50,105 company shares in three transactions conducted during June. The month-end price for the company follows an increasing trend starting in 2013. For more information about insider trades with Paychex, click here.
Paychex reported total revenues of $753.9 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2016 ended on May 31. This is up 9% compared to the previous year’s first quarter in which the company reported total revenues of $692.2 million. Net income also increased when comparing these two time periods. Net income was $161.2 million, or 44 cents per share in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2015, and $178.1 million, or 49 cents per share in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2016. Cash dividends per quarter also rose from 38 cents to 42 cents per common share. Mucci commented that the company closed fiscal 2016 with “nearly $3 billion in total revenues, a new milestone.” Annual revenue and net income for Paychex grew 7.19% and 7.79% since 2011.
On July 7, Paychex announced the approval by its board of directors for a 4 cents increase to Paychex's quarterly dividend, resulting in a dividend of 46 cents per share payable Aug. 25 to shareholders of record Aug. 1. Paychex returned $606 million in dividends, which amounts to 80% of the company’s net income, to share shareholders during fiscal 2016, which ended May 31. The company also announced that its board authorized the repurchase of $350 million of common stock, ending May 31, 2019.
According to GuruFocus.com information, Paychex has a business predictability rank of 5 out of 5 stars. For more information about business predictability rank, click here.
Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) both sold out all held Paychex shares during the first quarter. Simons sold 55,401 shares and Jones sold 9,000 shares after both decreased their stake in the company by 81.38% and 25.79% during the previous quarter. On the other hand, Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) acquired 4,629 shares of Paychex during the first quarter after selling out 50,172 shares for an average per share price of $52.33 in the previous quarter. For more information about guru trades with Paychex, click here.
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