Matrix Trust Co Cuts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Matrix Trust Co lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 335 shares during the quarter. Matrix Trust Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 80.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,887,000 after acquiring an additional 152,818 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $1,229,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 366.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,485,000 after acquiring an additional 16,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Paychex by 218.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after acquiring an additional 466,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total value of $1,865,924.93. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 82,690 shares in the company, valued at $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock traded down $2.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.97. 2,400,533 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,120,168. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $43.18 billion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $129.70.

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

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

Paychex 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.