Legal & General Group Plc Has $355.26 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 19.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,533,618 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 609,926 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.70% of Paychex worth $355,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,159,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $142,055,000 after acquiring an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Paychex by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $2,405,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock traded up $2.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $146.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,918,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,921,432. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.37. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, 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 current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.