Bar Harbor Wealth Management Cuts Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Bar Harbor Wealth Management decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Paychex were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Paychex by 118.5% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 136,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,117,000 after buying an additional 74,245 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 32.6% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 119,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,404,000 after purchasing an additional 29,320 shares in the last quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 166.9% during the second quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 3,965 shares in the last quarter. MWA Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the first quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the first quarter worth about $832,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $125.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $134.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.86. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.02 and a twelve month high of $161.24.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 97.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PAYX. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stephens raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $141.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.