Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 113,258 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,554,288 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 113,258 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.43% of Paychex worth $217,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price target 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 boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

Remove Ads

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $2.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $146.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 739,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,916,393. The firm has a market cap of $52.91 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $148.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.20. 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 one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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.