Leisure Capital Management Sells 1,931 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Leisure Capital Management cut its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,931 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 337.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $178,162,000 after buying an additional 1,191,539 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,655,000 after buying an additional 1,136,456 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Paychex by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,331,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,306,849,000 after buying an additional 927,584 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 26.7% in 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 boosted its holdings in Paychex by 218.8% in 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. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PAYX. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of Paychex 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $2.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $119.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,400,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,120,168. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.36. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $129.70. 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 issued 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. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. Research analysts expect 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 permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.