Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 1,080 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Foster & Motley Inc. lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 29.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,080 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 337.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $178,162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191,539 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 229.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $188,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,456 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Paychex by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,331,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,306,849,000 after acquiring an additional 927,584 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,631,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,441,000 after acquiring an additional 554,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Paychex by 218.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after acquiring an additional 466,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 82,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America upped their target price 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. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective 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, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Up 0.7 %

Paychex stock opened at $122.52 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.02 and a 200-day moving average of $120.35. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $104.09 and a one year high of $129.70. 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 $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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 of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.