Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 176.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,431 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,379 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,802,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,972,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 21,212 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,974,000 after purchasing an additional 9,556 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 486,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,233,000 after buying an additional 8,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,321,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $147.62 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.51.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), 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.