Apollon Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 2,816 Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Apollon Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $410,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Tsfg LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 122.3% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stephens raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Paychex from $148.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $125.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $133.78 and a 200-day moving average of $143.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $45.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.02 and a 52-week high of $161.24.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.08%.

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.