Cross Staff Investments Inc Sells 250 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Cross Staff Investments Inc trimmed its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 31.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 11.5% in the first quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 31.1% during the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 7,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $125.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $119.02 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.73.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Argus dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $141.29.

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.