Eastern Bank Sells 511 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Eastern Bank trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 511 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in Paychex in the first quarter worth about $34,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Paychex in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 122.3% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Paychex in the first quarter worth about $38,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Paychex from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paychex Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $125.55 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $133.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.69. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.02 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $45.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 97.08%.

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.