GAMMA Investing LLC Buys Shares of 1,553 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $189,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,012 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 17,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,115,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 188.1% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,402 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $643,000 after buying an additional 3,527 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 3,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 2,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $119.97 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.36. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.09 and a 52 week high of $129.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $43.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to buy up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 82,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

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.