Trust Co of the South Purchases 204 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Trust Co of the South raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Trust Co of the South’s holdings in Paychex were worth $706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Paychex by 118.5% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 136,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,117,000 after purchasing an additional 74,245 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Paychex by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,404,000 after purchasing an additional 29,320 shares during the period. MWA Asset Management increased its position in Paychex by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Paychex by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $990,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $149.70.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of PAYX opened at $135.11 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $140.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.83 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.53%.

Paychex 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.