Paychex (PAYX) – Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Updates

Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) has recently received a number of price target changes and ratings updates:

• 10/2/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $130.00 to $148.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock.
• 10/2/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $125.00 to $142.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 10/2/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at TD Cowen from $126.00 to $131.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 10/2/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $120.00 to $130.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 10/2/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $130.00 to $141.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 10/2/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $133.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 9/25/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $125.00 to $145.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 9/23/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $118.00 to $132.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 9/12/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at TD Cowen from $121.00 to $126.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 8/20/2024 – Paychex had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $120.00 to $128.00. They now have an “underweight” rating on the stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $140.71 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $129.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.60.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,673 shares of company stock valued at $5,636,085. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,472,000 after purchasing an additional 123,268 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Paychex by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,894 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after acquiring an additional 56,793 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Paychex by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in Paychex by 155.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after buying an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.