Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Has $2.40 Million Stake in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,525 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,265 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 99.0% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738,372 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,474,000 after purchasing an additional 737,542 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in Paychex by 117.6% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $187,512,000 after acquiring an additional 657,871 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 25.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,844,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $438,919,000 after acquiring an additional 581,410 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $142.83.

Paychex Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of PAYX opened at $123.42 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.02 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.38 billion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.55.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’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. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, 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 at this link. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were 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. This represents a 13.14% 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.

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.