Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Price

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price boosted by Citigroup from $145.00 to $158.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

PAYX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

Paychex Trading Up 1.1 %

PAYX opened at $151.83 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $148.13 and its 200-day moving average is $143.10. Paychex has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.67%.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Paychex by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 89,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,616,000 after buying an additional 3,406 shares during the period. Aegis Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $370,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $367,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHE LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 21,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,996,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. 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.