Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Purchases 324 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 381.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 409 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $57,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 91.1% in 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. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.8% during the third 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,405,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 3.3% in the 3rd 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3 %

PAYX stock opened at $146.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $147.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.92. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group boosted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

About Paychex

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.