Northcape Wealth Management LLC Has $414,000 Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Northcape Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Northcape Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Federated Hermes Inc. increased 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. increased its position in Paychex by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,456 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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. increased its holdings 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 increased its holdings 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. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $2.00 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,687,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,816,551. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a market cap of $42.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.41.

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 business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

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.