Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Position Lowered by Bahl & Gaynor Inc.

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,599,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 47,257 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned about 0.44% of Paychex worth $190,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $3,451,943,000 after acquiring an additional 170,453 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Paychex by 8.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 927,584 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 2.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 178,316 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Paychex by 5.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,481,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $516,858,000 after acquiring an additional 246,791 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Paychex by 5.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after acquiring an additional 182,648 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total value of $1,865,924.93. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares in the company, valued at $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 1.6 %

Paychex stock opened at $119.97 on Friday. 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 cap of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $121.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.36.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.