Barclays Lowers Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target to $118.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at Barclays from $120.00 to $118.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential downside of 1.06% from the company’s current price.

PAYX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.46.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $119.27. The company had a trading volume of 75,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,840,410. The stock has a market cap of $42.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.90. Paychex has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rogco LP grew its position in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Rogco LP now owns 8,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.