PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab Acquires New Shares in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 669,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $75,921,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ABC Arbitrage SA boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 61.4% in the third quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 28,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,576,000 after buying an additional 10,726 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,877,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 20.6% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 240,564 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,494,000 after buying an additional 41,114 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1,938.2% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 48,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,103,000 after buying an additional 45,781 shares during the period. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 23.9% in the third quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 99,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,626,000 after buying an additional 19,185 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Paychex to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Paychex to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Stephens cut their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $106.38.

Paychex Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of PAYX opened at $93.02 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $85.45 and a one year high of $161.24. The company has a market cap of $33.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.50.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. Paychex had a net margin of 25.84% and a return on equity of 48.52%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, January 16th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.