Paychex, Inc. $PAYX is Willis Investment Counsel’s 5th Largest Position

Willis Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 12.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 321,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,275 shares during the quarter. Paychex accounts for 2.7% of Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Willis Investment Counsel owned 0.09% of Paychex worth $46,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 83.8% in the 2nd 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 period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Paychex during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 40.6% during the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 94.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Paychex from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stephens raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $139.87.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0%

Paychex stock opened at $108.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.09.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.16 earnings per share. Paychex’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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 97.08%.

Paychex 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.