California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 24.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,031,353 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 329,241 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.29% of Paychex worth $95,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 59.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,395,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,243,295 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,988,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,569,218,000 after purchasing an additional 216,045 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,550,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,295,698,000 after purchasing an additional 263,152 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,705,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,093,958,000 after purchasing an additional 78,760 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 3,907 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.25, for a total transaction of $383,862.75. Following the sale, the director owned 67,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,618,513. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Paychex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $99.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Monday, June 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $116.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.80.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $114.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.98 billion, a PE ratio of 23.39 and a beta of 0.84. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.45 and a twelve month high of $148.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.28.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 50.90% and a net margin of 27.03%.The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Paychex’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.010 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 28th will be paid a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 28th. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 97.34%.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.