Paychex’s (PAYX) Sector Perform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their sector perform rating on shares of Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $148.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

PAYX has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.62.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $139.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $142.73 and a 200 day moving average of $132.70. The stock has a market cap of $50.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its 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 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.58%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total value of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,197.70. This represents a 50.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter worth about $570,000. Optas LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 5.8% during the second quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Access Financial Services Inc. now owns 13,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,545,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $308,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 22,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,684,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.