Argyle Capital Management Inc. Has $4.71 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 39,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,275 shares during the quarter. Paychex accounts for 2.0% of Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 3.5% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Dohj LLC raised its position in Paychex by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dohj LLC now owns 3,242 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 5,789 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $690,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total transaction of $1,865,924.93. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 1.6 %

PAYX stock traded down $2.00 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $119.97. The stock had a trading volume of 2,400,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,120,168. 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 firm has a market cap of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced 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. The business 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership 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.