Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Releases FY25 Earnings Guidance

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $4.96-5.05 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97. The company issued revenue guidance of $5.49-5.57 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $5.52 billion.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $135.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $142.74 and a 200 day moving average of $132.45. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

About Paychex

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.