Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Price

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Barclays from $140.00 to $155.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 0.27% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PAYX. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.83.

Paychex Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $154.59 on Monday. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $143.65. The company has a market cap of $55.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $184,216,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $674,115,000 after acquiring an additional 694,651 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Paychex by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,746,000 after purchasing an additional 628,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.