Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Announces $0.98 Quarterly Dividend

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of 0.98 per share by the business services provider on Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th.

Paychex has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Paychex has a dividend payout ratio of 74.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Paychex to earn $5.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.8%.

Paychex Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $139.68 on Tuesday. Paychex has a twelve month low of $109.98 and a twelve month high of $144.17. The stock has a market cap of $50.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s fifty day moving average is $136.50 and its 200-day moving average is $127.64.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, 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 value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 14,731 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.18, for a total transaction of $2,050,260.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,197.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

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.