Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $122.46.

A number of research firms recently commented on PAYX. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays reduced their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Paychex Stock Down 0.8 %

PAYX opened at $117.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex has a 52 week low of $106.27 and a 52 week high of $129.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.75.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 is accessible through this link. In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total transaction of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rogco LP grew its position in shares of Paychex by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Rogco LP now owns 8,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 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.