Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,226,661 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 215,044 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.34% of Paychex worth $178,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,215,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,686,133,000 after purchasing an additional 408,114 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,033,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,604,906,000 after purchasing an additional 251,139 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,183,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,053,000 after buying an additional 274,947 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,989,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $769,731,000 after buying an additional 181,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,384,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $637,820,000 after buying an additional 249,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of PAYX opened at $112.06 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $118.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $134.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.00 and a 1-year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. Argus lowered their target price on Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $135.60.

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.