Candlestick Capital Management LP Invests $13.51 Million in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Candlestick Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 96,313 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $13,505,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,405,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.3% in 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 buying an additional 13,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $147.12. The company had a trading volume of 2,500,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,922,812. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.24 and a 200 day moving average of $144.89. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company 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 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.