63,900 Shares in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Bought by Weiss Asset Management LP

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 63,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,886,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 957.1% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 296 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Leonteq Securities AG lifted its stake in Paychex by 2,669.2% in the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 3,907 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.25, for a total value of $383,862.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 67,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,618,513. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup raised shares of Paychex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Monday, June 15th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. One equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.53.

Paychex Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $113.55 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.45 and a twelve month high of $148.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.40.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th will be paid a $1.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.