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

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The company’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 Up 3.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $149.12 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $53.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

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.