Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Has $3.76 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 90.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,709 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $144.90 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $147.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.68. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $158.37. The company 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.