Stifel Nicolaus Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Price

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $142.00 to $137.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

PAYX has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays set a $155.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $142.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock opened at $124.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.39. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $119.02 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 97.08%.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 215 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.