KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires 5,100 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 147,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,100 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Paychex were worth $21,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 118.5% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 136,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,117,000 after acquiring an additional 74,245 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,404,000 after acquiring an additional 29,320 shares during the last quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 166.9% during the 2nd quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 3,965 shares during the last quarter. MWA Asset Management boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $832,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price on Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $141.29.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $127.02 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $134.82 and its 200 day moving average is $144.12. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.02 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.71 billion, a PE ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was 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 directly owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Paychex

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.