Natixis Purchases Shares of 3,837 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Natixis acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,837 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth 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 period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,772,544,000 after purchasing an additional 166,155 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,339,463,000 after buying an additional 126,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,104,626 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $575,551,000 after buying an additional 208,130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $143.21. 1,394,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,917,496. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $147.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.79.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Paychex's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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.