Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Paychex updated its FY25 guidance to $4.96-5.05 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance to 4.960-5.050 EPS.

Paychex Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $151.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,419,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,895,574. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.67%.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Paychex stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $137.58.

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.