Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Hits New 1-Year High at $137.26

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $137.26 and last traded at $136.18, with a volume of 60479 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $135.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Paychex Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $126.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.42.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $676,104.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 437,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,163 shares of company stock valued at $17,537,817 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. ING Groep NV increased its holdings in Paychex by 752.9% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 86,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,246,000 after acquiring an additional 75,937 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,812,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 679,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,947,000 after purchasing an additional 3,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $237,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.