Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) Lags Peers in Smart Money Ownership

Consequently, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Renaissance Technologies assembled the most outsized position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX). Citadel Investment Group also initiated a $12 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are George Hall’s Clinton Group, Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, and Mike Vranos’ Ellington.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX), Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW), and Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF). This group of stocks’ market values match PAYX’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 38 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.78 billion. That figure was just $613 million in PAYX’s case. Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) is the least popular one with only 31 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) is even less popular than STT. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: None