Paychex, Inc. Forecasted to Post Q1 2025 Earnings of $1.13 Per Share (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) – Equities research analysts at William Blair cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for Paychex in a research note issued on Monday, July 22nd. William Blair analyst A. Nicholas now anticipates that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $1.13 for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.16. The consensus estimate for Paychex’s current full-year earnings is $4.99 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Paychex’s Q4 2025 earnings at $1.23 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.20 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.57 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $1.31 EPS.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PAYX. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.46.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $123.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $44.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $121.91 and its 200-day moving average is $121.76. Paychex has a 52-week low of $106.27 and a 52-week high of $129.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,472,000 after acquiring an additional 123,268 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Paychex by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,894 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,151,000 after acquiring an additional 56,793 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Paychex by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after acquiring an additional 623,000 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Paychex by 155.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 142,823 shares of company stock worth $16,977,648. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.94%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.