California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 27,664 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,953,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,664 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.54% of Paychex worth $232,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Paychex by 80.2% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,887,000 after buying an additional 152,818 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth $1,229,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 366.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,485,000 after acquiring an additional 16,391 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 218.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after acquiring an additional 466,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America boosted 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. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

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

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.36 on Tuesday, reaching $121.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 161,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,802,874. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.09 and a 52-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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $122.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Paychex declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign 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.