Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,483,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 61,227 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $176,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,333 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 56,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,739,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 7,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $845,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Paychex by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 5,229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the period. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $842,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $118.96. 518,355 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,787,578. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.16. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $104.09 and a twelve month high of $129.70.

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

Paychex announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

About Paychex

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.