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

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

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wolfe Research decreased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $142.83.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $124.01 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Paychex has a 1 year low of $119.02 and a 1 year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 27.85% and a return on equity of 45.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total value of $14,157,849.42. Following the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 18.1% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 19,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,046,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 6.4% during the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 8,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 3.1% during the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 3,934 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.