SouthState Corp Decreases Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

SouthState Corp lessened its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,175 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sienna Gestion lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 10.0% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 56,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 5,106 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Paychex by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 119,873 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,410,000 after buying an additional 4,209 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in Paychex by 33.6% in the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 6,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $925,000 after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Paychex by 39.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 641,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $93,375,000 after acquiring an additional 181,550 shares during the period. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 40.6% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $112.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $40.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.07 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $127.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.45.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Paychex from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $139.87.

About Paychex

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.