Comerica Bank Has $17.54 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Comerica Bank cut its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 125,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,136 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Paychex by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,405,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,918,000 after acquiring an additional 13,702 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3 %

PAYX stock opened at $146.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.92. The company has a market cap of $52.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Paychex

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.