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

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and eleven have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $132.23.

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Paychex Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $143.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.56. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 220.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 74 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.