Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Paychex updated its FY25 guidance to $4.96-5.05 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance to 4.960-5.050 EPS.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $150.19 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $148.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.04. The stock has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Paychex stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PAYX shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.50.

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.