Smith Group Asset Management LLC Sells 1,630 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Smith Group Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,630 shares during the quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,807,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,907,314,000 after purchasing an additional 286,818 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,474,000 after purchasing an additional 737,542 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,989,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $769,731,000 after purchasing an additional 181,628 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,135,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $637,993,000 after purchasing an additional 30,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $539,102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738,372 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of PAYX opened at $124.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.02 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.27. The firm has a market cap of $44.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. The company’s revenue 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 analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stephens raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $139.87.

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.