Drake & Associates LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Drake & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 53.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,587 shares during the quarter. Paychex comprises 0.7% of Drake & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Drake & Associates LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 277,864 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,418,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. PUREfi Wealth LLC raised its position in Paychex by 26.5% during the second quarter. PUREfi Wealth LLC now owns 2,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 422,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,486,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Joule Financial LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 1,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 0.2%

PAYX opened at $124.37 on Tuesday. 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’s fifty day moving average is $135.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.24. The company has a market capitalization of $44.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 2.85 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 quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The business’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.16 EPS. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Stephens set a $135.00 target price on Paychex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Paychex 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.