Dearborn Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,976 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $643,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. XXEC Inc. acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,123,016,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,669,000 after purchasing an additional 4,583,157 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 59.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,395,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,243,295 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the second quarter worth about $2,728,970,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,988,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,569,218,000 after buying an additional 216,045 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Paychex from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Paychex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Paychex from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.20.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $126.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $44.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.77 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $85.45 and a 1-year high of $140.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $111.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 50.90%. The business 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 business posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.010 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.96 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 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 28th will be issued a $1.19 dividend. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 28th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.34%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.09, for a total transaction of $299,234.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,574.23. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 3,907 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.25, for a total value of $383,862.75. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 67,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,513. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.