Ritholtz Wealth Management Raises Stake in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,878 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,604 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 10.0% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 8.5% in the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 4,178 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 7.0% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 65,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,556,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304 shares during the last quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 7.3% in the second quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 74.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Weiss Ratings raised Paychex from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $141.29.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $127.52 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.02 and a 1 year high of $161.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.89 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.25.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. The business’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. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.08%.

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.