Analysts Set Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target at $131.62

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $131.62.

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Paychex Stock Down 0.3 %

Paychex stock opened at $145.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $52.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.99. Paychex has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,018,020.45. The trade was a 64.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock worth $7,577,231 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. BOKF NA increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 19,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 979,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,286,000 after buying an additional 6,020 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $892,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 15,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after buying an additional 2,638 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 553,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,996,000 after purchasing an additional 11,047 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.