Milestones Private Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Milestones Private Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,731 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,270,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,215,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,686,133,000 after buying an additional 408,114 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,066,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,046,050,000 after acquiring an additional 355,294 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,033,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,604,906,000 after acquiring an additional 251,139 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,183,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,053,000 after purchasing an additional 274,947 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,989,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $769,731,000 after purchasing an additional 181,628 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $115.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $108.00 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.14.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $118.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Sunday, December 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $121.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $131.87.

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.