Peak Financial Advisors LLC Invests $2.15 Million in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Peak Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 16,987 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,153,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,215,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,686,133,000 after purchasing an additional 408,114 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,066,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,046,050,000 after buying an additional 355,294 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,033,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,604,906,000 after buying an additional 251,139 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,183,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,053,000 after acquiring an additional 274,947 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Paychex by 6.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,384,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $637,820,000 after acquiring an additional 249,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3%

PAYX stock opened at $116.70 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $116.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $132.43. The stock has a market cap of $42.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.22 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $108.00 and a twelve month high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. The firm’s 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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 97.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. Citigroup started coverage on Paychex in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $139.00 target price on the stock. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $121.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $131.13.

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.