Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Stock Holdings Raised by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,852 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $10,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,807,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,907,314,000 after buying an additional 286,818 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 737,542 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,989,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $769,731,000 after buying an additional 181,628 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,135,296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $637,993,000 after buying an additional 30,670 shares during the period. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,738,372 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Paychex Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $123.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.55. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.02 and a 12 month high of $161.24. The company has a market capitalization of $44.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The business 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 firm earned $1.16 EPS. The business’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. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 97.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. 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. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $142.83.

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.