Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 172 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,591 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have 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 worth about $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Paychex during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 122.3% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock opened at $125.55 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $133.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.69. 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 $45.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. Paychex’s 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 forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 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.