W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co Has $7.92 Million Stake in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 786 shares during the period. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in Paychex by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738,372 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,663,474,000 after purchasing an additional 737,542 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $187,512,000 after buying an additional 657,871 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,844,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $438,919,000 after buying an additional 581,410 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 0.2%

Paychex stock opened at $117.03 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $42.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $116.08 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $129.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $141.23.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The business’s revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Stephens raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $139.87.

Paychex Company 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.