Capital International Investors Grows Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Capital International Investors raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned approximately 0.07% of Paychex worth $3,772,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings 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 period. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,405,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock opened at $144.90 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $147.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.51, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

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.