M&T Bank Corp Decreases Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Key Points

• M&T Bank cut its Paychex stake by 83.6% in Q4, selling 93,661 shares and leaving 18,357 shares valued at about $2.06 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed-to-negative: several firms (Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, RBC) trimmed price targets, and MarketBeat's consensus rating is "Reduce" with a $106.38 target.
• Paychex beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.71 vs. $1.67; revenue $1.81B vs. $1.78B), reported revenue up 19.9% YoY, and authorized a $1.0 billion share buyback (up to 2.5% of shares).

M&T Bank Corp reduced its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 83.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,357 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 93,661 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Paychex were worth $2,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. ABC Arbitrage SA raised its position in shares of Paychex by 61.4% during the 3rd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 28,208 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,877,000. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 240,564 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $30,494,000 after purchasing an additional 41,114 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its position in shares of Paychex by 1,938.2% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 48,143 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,103,000 after purchasing an additional 45,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 99,607 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,626,000 after purchasing an additional 19,185 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Paychex to $52.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Paychex from $123.00 to $107.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Paychex from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $106.38.

Paychex Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of PAYX opened at $90.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $92.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $32.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.45 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.Paychex's revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Paychex announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, January 16th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas "Tom" Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company's core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers' compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.

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