Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Reduces Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 30.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 174,246 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 77,900 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $24,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,419,878,000 after buying an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,772,544,000 after purchasing an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,339,463,000 after acquiring an additional 126,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Paychex by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,104,626 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $575,551,000 after purchasing an additional 208,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $146.31. The company had a trading volume of 533,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,917,428. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.89. The company has a market cap of $52.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. 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 report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

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.