Paychex Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 4,566 call options on the company. This is an increase of 39% compared to the typical volume of 3,285 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $145.91.

Paychex Trading Down 4.3%

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $5.53 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $123.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,431,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,239,605. Paychex has a one year low of $119.02 and a one year high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $137.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.99. The stock has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a PE ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. Paychex’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 anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were 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 was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 94.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was 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 directly owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $179,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 717,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $110,739,000 after acquiring an additional 72,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.