Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target Lowered to $140.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective trimmed by BMO Capital Markets from $143.00 to $140.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $142.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on shares of Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $142.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $124.61 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $119.02 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The stock has a market cap of $44.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $135.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. Analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 97.08%.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the company’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 approximately $11,602,669.60. This represents a 13.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 18.1% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 19,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,046,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.4% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 8,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.1% in the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 3,934 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.