Citigroup Raises Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target to $145.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Citigroup from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.01% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on PAYX. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.62.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX traded down $0.61 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $133.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 545,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,793,675. The company has a market cap of $47.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.03. Paychex has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total value of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 147,163 shares of company stock worth $17,537,817. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 12.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,894 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 155.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,338,000 after buying an additional 1,508,681 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 57.2% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $267,695,000 after buying an additional 793,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,492,000 after buying an additional 623,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

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.