Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Holdings Lowered by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp cut its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,246 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,407 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 13,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the third quarter worth $593,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 62,376 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,998 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 39,395 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $149.07 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $148.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.49. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. 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.