Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Grows Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,170 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 528 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,738,372 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,474,000 after purchasing an additional 737,542 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 117.6% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $187,512,000 after purchasing an additional 657,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,844,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $438,919,000 after purchasing an additional 581,410 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $117.03 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $116.08 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.30. The company has a market capitalization of $42.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 97.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Argus decreased their price target on Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Paychex from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Paychex in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $139.87.

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.