Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 14,931 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 735,928 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,931 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.20% of Paychex worth $103,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 469.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on PAYX. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $143.21 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $51.58 billion, a PE ratio of 30.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $147.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.83. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business 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. The company's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

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

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.

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