Ledyard National Bank Has $223,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ledyard National Bank lessened its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 337.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $178,162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191,539 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 229.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $188,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,456 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 927,584 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $303,441,000 after buying an additional 554,968 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Paychex by 218.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after buying an additional 466,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded down $1.77 on Tuesday, hitting $119.04. 471,312 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,801,572. The business’s fifty day moving average is $121.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.41. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.09 and a 12 month high of $129.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its board has approved a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. TD Cowen dropped their price target on 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 increased their price objective on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

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.