Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Bessemer Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 49.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,586 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 957.1% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 296 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Leonteq Securities AG raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,669.2% in the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Tucci sold 3,907 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.25, for a total value of $383,862.75. Following the sale, the director directly owned 67,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,618,513. This trade represents a 5.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Paychex from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Paychex from $116.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Paychex to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $107.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upgraded Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.53.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $110.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $101.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.28. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.45 and a 52-week high of $148.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65 and a beta of 0.84.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The business services provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.60 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 50.90% and a net margin of 27.03%.The business’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.900-6.010 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 28th will be paid a dividend of $1.19 per share. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 28th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.34%.

About Paychex

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.