Dogwood Wealth Management LLC Sells 93 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 118.5% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 136,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,117,000 after acquiring an additional 74,245 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,404,000 after buying an additional 29,320 shares during the period. Martin Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 166.9% during the 2nd quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 3,965 shares during the period. MWA Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $990,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $160.00 to $143.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Paychex Trading Down 1.4%

PAYX stock opened at $126.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $137.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.02 and a 52-week high of $161.24. The firm has a market cap of $45.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 94.53%.

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.