Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 40,100 Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 40,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,694,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. 44 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 3.5% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,509,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in Paychex by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,834 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Bollard Group LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.6% in the third quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 16,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PAYX. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $116.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Paychex from $100.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Paychex from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Paychex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $99.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.67.

Paychex Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $99.90 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $85.45 and a 12 month high of $148.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.60 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 50.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.010 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.34%.

Paychex Profile

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.