Morgan Stanley Increases Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target to $142.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $137.00 to $142.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential downside of 5.55% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX traded up $0.16 on Thursday, reaching $150.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,254,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,835. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $148.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37. The company has a market cap of $54.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,432,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Paychex by 34.1% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,783 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.