Research Analysts Set Expectations for Paychex, Inc.’s Q1 2026 Earnings (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) – Equities researchers at William Blair boosted their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Paychex in a report issued on Wednesday, October 2nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now forecasts that the business services provider will earn $1.22 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $1.20. The consensus estimate for Paychex’s current full-year earnings is $4.99 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Paychex’s Q4 2026 earnings at $1.29 EPS.

PAYX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $139.36 on Friday. Paychex has a twelve month low of $106.27 and a twelve month high of $142.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 155.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 57.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after purchasing an additional 793,468 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted 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 valued at $303,492,000 after purchasing an additional 623,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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 given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

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.