Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Receives $132.23 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat 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 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $132.23.

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $218,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 13.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 18,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,321 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Paychex by 15.5% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.5% in the third quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 50,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,782,000 after buying an additional 739 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Paychex by 12.6% during the third quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Trading Down 0.9 %

Paychex stock opened at $147.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $53.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $143.27 and a 200-day moving average of $138.69. 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 has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

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.