New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 209,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Paychex were worth $26,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Paychex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $302,244,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Paychex by 179.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,078,328 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $156,854,000 after purchasing an additional 692,533 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 29.2% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,542,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $369,901,000 after buying an additional 574,337 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 209.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 838,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $106,311,000 after buying an additional 567,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,051,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $589,319,000 after buying an additional 557,101 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $125.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Paychex from $150.00 to $125.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $121.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $123.94.

Paychex Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of PAYX opened at $103.13 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.04 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The company has a market capitalization of $37.02 billion, a PE ratio of 23.39 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $111.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.55 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.38% and a net margin of 26.45%.The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.480-5.530 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, January 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the business services provider to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 97.96%.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.