Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Holdings Reduced by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 111,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,009 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Paychex were worth $10,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 957.1% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Leonteq Securities AG boosted its position in Paychex by 2,669.2% during the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 360 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PAYX. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Paychex from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.20.

Paychex Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $125.40 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.23. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.45 and a fifty-two week high of $141.19. The firm has a market cap of $44.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 50.90% and a net margin of 27.03%.The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.010 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th will be paid a $1.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 3,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.25, for a total value of $383,862.75. Following the sale, the director directly owned 67,364 shares in the company, valued at $6,618,513. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.09, for a total transaction of $299,234.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,134,574.23. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Paychex 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.