Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $133.23.

Several research firms have weighed in on PAYX. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $146.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $146.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.95. The company has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.