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

Capital International Sarl boosted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 37.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,794 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,845 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Paychex were worth $953,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 662,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $92,889,000 after acquiring an additional 165,982 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $227,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,315,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Paychex by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 38,319 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,373,000 after buying an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Finally, Master S Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $437,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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 company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. 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, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $144.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. 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 fifty day moving average of $147.94 and a 200 day moving average of $144.65. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Company 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.