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

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $142.00 to $137.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 11.00% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $158.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $148.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $142.83.

Paychex Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $123.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.27. Paychex has a one year low of $119.02 and a one year high of $161.24. The firm has a market cap of $44.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.73, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total value of $1,755,550.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 122.3% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 229 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.