CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Grows Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 662,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 165,982 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.18% of Paychex worth $92,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $227,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,315,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 38,319 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406 shares in the last quarter. Master S Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $437,000. Finally, Finward Bancorp purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $474,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PAYX. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $144.90 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $147.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $158.37.

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