Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Receives $122.46 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.46.

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 142,823 shares of company stock valued at $16,977,648 in the last 90 days. 11.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,472,000 after buying an additional 123,268 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 12.8% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after buying an additional 2,373,894 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,687,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $320,151,000 after buying an additional 56,793 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Paychex by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,492,000 after buying an additional 623,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 155.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after buying an additional 1,508,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $126.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.90. Paychex has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $129.66.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. Research analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.