Cape ANN Savings Bank Grows Stake in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Cape ANN Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Cape ANN Savings Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in Paychex by 99.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after buying an additional 1,738,372 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the first quarter worth approximately $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,663,474,000 after buying an additional 737,542 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 117.6% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $187,512,000 after buying an additional 657,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 25.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,844,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,919,000 after buying an additional 581,410 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $124.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.02 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $135.66 and a 200 day moving average of $144.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The company’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $142.77.

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.