Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) - Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for Paychex in a report issued on Wednesday, April 9th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $1.22 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.23. The consensus estimate for Paychex's current full-year earnings is $4.99 per share.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS.
Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Paychex
Paychex Trading Up 1.6 %
PAYX stock traded up $2.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $149.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,720,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,920,629. The stock has a market cap of $53.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $148.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.
Institutional Trading of Paychex
Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,419,878,000 after acquiring an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,772,544,000 after purchasing an additional 166,155 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,339,463,000 after buying an additional 126,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $674,115,000 after purchasing an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Paychex
(
Get Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Paychex, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Paychex wasn't on the list.
While Paychex currently has a Reduce rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Thinking about investing in Meta, Roblox, or Unity? Enter your email to learn what streetwise investors need to know about the metaverse and public markets before making an investment.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
