Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 662,210 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 28,376 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.18% of Paychex worth $92,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Paychex by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,339,463,000 after purchasing an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,299,297 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $322,407,000 after acquiring an additional 56,622 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

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Paychex Trading Up 1.5 %

PAYX stock traded up $2.14 during trading on Monday, hitting $148.89. The company had a trading volume of 324,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,915,234. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

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.