Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Brokerages

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and fourteen have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $139.0667.

• Buy The Dip Opportunity: Paychex Signals Rebound After Sell-Off

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Paychex to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Argus cut their target price on Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Paychex from $153.00 to $140.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Monday.

View Our Latest Stock Report on PAYX

Institutional Trading of Paychex

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A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 17.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,765,468 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,787,151,000 after purchasing an additional 5,549,511 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Paychex by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,066,067 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,046,050,000 after buying an additional 355,294 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,033,312 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,604,906,000 after buying an additional 251,139 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,183,871 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,481,053,000 after buying an additional 274,947 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,989,182 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $769,731,000 after buying an additional 181,628 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $111.76 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $118.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $40.22 billion, a PE ratio of 25.11 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex has a 1-year low of $108.00 and a 1-year high of $161.24.

• Paychex and Cintas Show Surprising Labor Market Resilience

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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, equities analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Paychex's 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.

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