BMO Capital Markets Lowers Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target to $121.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price cut by BMO Capital Markets from $140.00 to $121.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target suggests a potential upside of 7.19% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PAYX. Stephens upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Paychex from $153.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $131.87.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $112.88 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Paychex has a 52-week low of $108.00 and a 52-week high of $161.24. The firm has a market cap of $40.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average is $117.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.90.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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, research analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 58.9% during the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 13,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,128,000 after acquiring an additional 5,109 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Paychex by 36.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,968,564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,710,000 after purchasing an additional 530,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $657,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% 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.