Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $2.75 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,766 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 102,768.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,537,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $524,359,000 after buying an additional 4,533,137 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 229.8% during the third 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 8.9% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 26.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,631,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,441,000 after purchasing an additional 554,968 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

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

Paychex Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $117.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $104.09 and a 12-month high of $129.70. The company has a market capitalization of $42.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $122.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.14.

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. 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 analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.