Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating restated by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $130.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 25.95% from the stock’s current price.

PAYX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $132.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Paychex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Paychex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.82.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2%

PAYX stock traded down $1.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $103.21. The company had a trading volume of 637,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,494,213. Paychex has a 52 week low of $85.45 and a 52 week high of $130.32. The company has a market cap of $36.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average of $119.04 and a 200 day moving average of $104.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 50.90%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Paychex has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.896-6.006 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Robert Schrader sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.09, for a total transaction of $299,234.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 18,547 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,574.23. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Tucci sold 3,907 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.25, for a total transaction of $383,862.75. Following the sale, the director owned 67,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,618,513. The trade was a 5.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. XXEC Inc. purchased a new stake in Paychex in the second quarter worth approximately $1,123,016,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,728,970,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Paychex by 59.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,395,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,243,295 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter valued at $434,061,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $257,699,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Paychex

Here are the key news stories impacting Paychex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Paychex reported fiscal Q1 adjusted earnings of $1.34 per share, above the $1.32–$1.33 analyst consensus, while revenue increased 5.9% year over year to $1.63 billion, in line with expectations. Operating margin expanded to 38.0% from 35.2%. Paychex Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Results
• Positive Sentiment: PEO and Insurance Solutions revenue rose 12% to $367.6 million, prompting Paychex to raise its full-year growth outlook for that segment to 7%–8%, from 6%–7%.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan upgraded PAYX from “underweight” to “neutral” and assigned a $115 price target, suggesting potential upside from the stock’s recent level. JPMorgan upgrades Paychex
• Positive Sentiment: The company introduced WISE Hire, an agentic AI recruiting product designed to automate candidate sourcing, matching and workflow management. The offering could support longer-term cross-selling and platform expansion. Paychex Introduces WISE Hire

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc is a provider of payroll, human resources, and workforce management solutions for businesses of varying sizes. Its offerings include payroll processing, tax administration, time and attendance tracking, employee benefits administration, retirement services, workers’ compensation and business insurance, recruiting, and compliance support.

The company also provides professional employer organization services, helping businesses manage employment administration and human resources through an integrated platform.