William Blair Comments on Paychex, Inc.’s Q2 2025 Earnings (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) – William Blair decreased their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Paychex in a report released on Wednesday, October 2nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now expects that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $1.12 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.13. The consensus estimate for Paychex’s current full-year earnings is $4.99 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Paychex’s FY2025 earnings at $4.99 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.18 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.56 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $5.26 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PAYX. Citigroup lifted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Down 1.0 %

PAYX stock opened at $139.36 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $130.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.70. The stock has a market cap of $50.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex has a twelve month low of $106.27 and a twelve month high of $142.04.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

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

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,793,075.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 45,673 shares of company stock valued at $5,636,085 over the last ninety days. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

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.