Van Cleef Asset Management Inc Sells 876 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Van Cleef Asset Management Inc lessened its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,272 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 876 shares during the quarter. Paychex makes up about 2.2% of Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $20,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in Paychex by 99.0% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after buying an additional 1,738,372 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at $134,192,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,663,474,000 after acquiring an additional 737,542 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,217,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $187,512,000 after acquiring an additional 657,871 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 25.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 581,410 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Argus lowered their price objective on Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Paychex from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $139.87.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of PAYX opened at $111.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $40.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $127.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $140.25. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.70 and a 52-week high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results 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. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. 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. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.08%.

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.