1,750 Shares in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Purchased by Virtus Advisers LLC

Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 83.8% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Nova Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 94.0% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Paychex from $153.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $139.87.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $111.79 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $120.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.24. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $108.00 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 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.