Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their sector perform rating on shares of Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $130.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PAYX. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $122.62.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

PAYX opened at $118.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.96. Paychex has a 12 month low of $106.27 and a 12 month high of $129.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Paychex by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after buying an additional 2,373,894 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Paychex by 155.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at about $146,617,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $188,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,456 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Paychex by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after purchasing an additional 793,468 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.