Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Reduces Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. decreased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,931,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,451,943,000 after purchasing an additional 170,453 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,331,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,306,849,000 after buying an additional 927,584 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.8% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,982,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $913,599,000 after buying an additional 62,739 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,797,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $783,975,000 after buying an additional 178,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 102,768.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,537,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $524,359,000 after buying an additional 4,533,137 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on PAYX. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,924.93. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 82,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 1.1 %

PAYX stock opened at $117.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.09 and a twelve month high of $129.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.14.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, January 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.