First Nebraska Trust Co Purchases New Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

First Nebraska Trust Co purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 93,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,189,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. XXEC Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,123,016,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,669,000 after purchasing an additional 4,583,157 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,395,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,243,295 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the second quarter valued at $2,728,970,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,988,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,569,218,000 after purchasing an additional 216,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Paychex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.20.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $124.47 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $44.27 billion, a PE ratio of 25.45 and a beta of 0.81. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $85.45 and a one year high of $141.19.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’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, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 28th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.34%.

Insider Activity

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

About Paychex

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.