Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Shares Purchased by Loudon Investment Management LLC

Loudon Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Loudon Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Rogco LP boosted its position in Paychex by 3.6% during the second quarter. Rogco LP now owns 7,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Point Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacific Point Advisors LLC now owns 10,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 35,954 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,230,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 7,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 11.6% in the second quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Paychex from $160.00 to $143.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $145.00.

Paychex Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $126.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.02 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $137.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.53%.

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.