Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Receives $137.58 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and eleven have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $138.83.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $154.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $55.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.65. Paychex has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. 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.