American Century Companies Inc. Sells 7,734 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 103,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,734 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $15,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Tsfg LLC grew its position in Paychex by 122.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $155.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $149.70.

Paychex Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $140.81 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $143.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.75. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.76 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The company has a market cap of $50.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were 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 owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.