Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 363 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS trimmed its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,807 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Paychex by 31.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 7.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 161.1% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 target price on Paychex in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $139.87.

Paychex Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $124.60 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. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $119.02 and a one year high of $161.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $131.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $142.22. The company has a market capitalization of $44.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Paychex’s payout ratio 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.