First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $1.67 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,308 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 351 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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 a consensus target price of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $1.61 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $117.80. The stock had a trading volume of 244,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,793,060. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $121.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.40. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.09 and a 52-week high of $129.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.40 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.