Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,115 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 102.4% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,609 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,146,000 after buying an additional 9,417 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $221,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 81.2% during the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 21,670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 9,712 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,240 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 65.3% in the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 2,528 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America increased 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. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a 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. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $121.62 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $129.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. The company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Company 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.