Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Releases FY25 Earnings Guidance

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) issued an update on its FY25 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $4.96-5.05 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS 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. Paychex also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 4.960-5.050 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock opened at $137.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $142.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.49. Paychex has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 83.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total transaction of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.