Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup has initiated coverage on Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) with a "neutral" rating and a price target of $139.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.79% from its current price.
• Analysts' ratings vary, with one "Buy," twelve "Hold," and three "Sell" ratings, while Paychex's average target price stands at $139.87.
• In its latest earnings report, Paychex beat analysts' expectations with $1.22 earnings per share and a revenue growth of 16.8% year-over-year.

Analysts at Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) in a report released on Thursday. The brokerage set a "neutral" rating and a $139.00 price target on the business services provider's stock. Citigroup's price target indicates a potential upside of 9.79% from the company's current price.

PAYX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Paychex from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Argus lowered their price objective on Paychex from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $130.00 price objective on Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $139.87.

Paychex Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $126.61 on Thursday. Paychex has a 12 month low of $119.02 and a 12 month high of $161.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $131.89 and a 200-day moving average of $142.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $45.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The business services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 27.85%.The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.428-5.528 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in Paychex by 193.2% in the third quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 346 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Paychex by 69.2% in the third quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 219,000 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $27,760,000 after acquiring an additional 89,576 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Paychex by 1.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 357,225 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $45,282,000 after acquiring an additional 3,523 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 6.5% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,185 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 30.6% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,916,000 after acquiring an additional 5,396 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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