Penserra Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Penserra Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 74.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,199 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.9% during the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 13,372 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 4,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.7% in the second quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,101 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,524,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Paychex by 5.5% during the second quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PAYX. Weiss Ratings downgraded Paychex from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Paychex to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Argus reduced their price objective on Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $139.87.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $111.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $110.16 and a one year high of $161.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $125.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid 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 is presently 97.08%.

Paychex Company 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.