Cibc World Market Inc. Sells 212 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

06 Dec 2023, 14:40 by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets Daily

Cibc World Market Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Free Report) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 212 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Paychex by 113.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 19,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 10,092 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 17,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Paychex by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,591,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $178,040,000 after purchasing an additional 142,656 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 432,146 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,520,000 after purchasing an additional 32,276 shares during the period. Finally, Shelton Capital Management increased its holdings in Paychex by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 30,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,479 shares during the period. 72.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, September 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 28th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Paychex in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Paychex from $114.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.07.

Get Our Latest Report on Paychex

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $123.04 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.09 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $116.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $44.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.97.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 27th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.51% and a net margin of 31.40%. The company had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 13th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 41,329 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.79, for a total transaction of $4,785,484.91. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,292,642. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Paychex

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