Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S cut its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 92.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 217,735 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Paychex by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,395,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,243,295 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 4,141.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,409,229 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $270,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,352,423 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $257,699,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at about $117,809,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Paychex from $123.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $116.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Argus upgraded shares of Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Paychex from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.07.

Paychex News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Paychex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Paychex posted stronger-than-expected Q4 results, with adjusted EPS of $1.32 versus $1.31 expected and revenue of $1.61 billion versus $1.60 billion expected, while revenue rose 12.5% year over year. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company highlighted continued operating momentum, including Management Solutions growth helped by Paycor, margin expansion, and the launch of its AI tool WISE Workforce Intelligence Engine. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts mostly reiterated a Hold/neutral view, with William Blair’s Andrew Nicholas saying Paychex’s solid fundamentals are being offset by valuation concerns. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The main pressure point is guidance: Paychex forecast FY 2027 revenue growth of only about 5%–6% and EPS growth of 7%–9%, a noticeable slowdown from fiscal 2026’s double-digit growth. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage also pointed to higher-than-expected expenses and softer near-term growth expectations, which are weighing on sentiment despite the earnings beat. Article Title

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $96.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.25. The stock has a market cap of $34.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.21 and a beta of 0.84. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $85.45 and a 12-month high of $148.76.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.010 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a $1.19 dividend. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.85%.

Paychex Company Profile

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.