Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Strong Sell Rating

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on PAYX. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $126.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research cut their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $140.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. UBS Group cut their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays set a $155.00 target price on Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $140.47.

Paychex Stock Down 0.7%

Paychex stock opened at $126.61 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $131.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $45.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex has a twelve month low of $119.02 and a twelve month high of $161.24.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.