Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Purchases 64,640 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 205,198 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 64,640 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned 0.06% of Paychex worth $28,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Monument Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC raised its position in Paychex by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Adero Partners LLC increased its position in Paychex by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $147.76. 434,010 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,910,977. The firm's 50-day moving average is $148.03 and its 200 day moving average is $144.51. 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 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The company has a market capitalization of $53.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.11, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 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 return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS 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.