Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in Paychex by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after buying an additional 1,738,372 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the 1st quarter worth about $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,663,474,000 after buying an additional 737,542 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $187,512,000 after buying an additional 657,871 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,844,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,919,000 after acquiring an additional 581,410 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Stephens upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $140.47.

Paychex Stock Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $127.54 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.02 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.49.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly 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 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 last year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

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

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.