Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 821,299 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,523 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.23% of Paychex worth $115,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,264 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its position in Paychex by 67.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 70,100 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,829,000 after buying an additional 28,199 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 4,856 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 90.1% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 26,807 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,759,000 after acquiring an additional 12,709 shares during the period. Finally, Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of PAYX traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $143.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,394,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,916,577. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company's 50-day moving average is $147.56 and its 200-day moving average is $144.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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.