Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Receives $122.62 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.62.

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America increased their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $118.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.90. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its position in Paychex by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Rogco LP raised its stake 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 valued at $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.