William Blair Has Negative Outlook for Paychex Q4 Earnings

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) – Investment analysts at William Blair dropped their Q4 2025 earnings estimates for Paychex in a report released on Monday, June 16th. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now forecasts that the business services provider will post earnings of $1.20 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.21. The consensus estimate for Paychex’s current full-year earnings is $4.99 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Paychex’s Q1 2026 earnings at $1.19 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.19 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.62 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.32 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $5.32 EPS.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 31.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.36.

Paychex Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $150.32 on Wednesday. Paychex has a 1-year low of $115.40 and a 1-year high of $161.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $151.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.60. The firm has a market cap of $54.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $2,419,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 581,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $81,542,000 after purchasing an additional 23,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 10,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.