Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Announces Share Repurchase Program

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, January 16th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $153.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $125.67.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $0.67 on Friday, hitting $111.18. The stock had a trading volume of 3,421,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,608,379. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $112.25 and a 200 day moving average of $126.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. Paychex has a twelve month low of $107.80 and a twelve month high of $161.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.38% and a net margin of 26.45%.The business’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Paychex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.480-5.530 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 28th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.96%.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.