Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Stock Holdings Increased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 153.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,274 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 122.3% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $142.77.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. This trade represents a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. This 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 owned by company insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $124.61 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $44.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.02 and a 1 year high of $161.24.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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