Argus Cuts Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target to $150.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price decreased by Argus from $170.00 to $150.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on PAYX. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. 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, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $142.77.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $124.61 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. 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 has a twelve month low of $119.02 and a twelve month high of $161.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.37.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, 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 value of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 446,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,878,940.89. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter worth $34,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter worth $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 122.3% during the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.