First Hawaiian Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 7,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 225.3% in the fourth quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 4,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 3,434 shares in the last quarter. First County Bank CT purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $222,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $140.25 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $150.71. The company’s 50-day moving average is $142.33 and its 200 day moving average is $134.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

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.