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

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and ten have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $141.00.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Paychex by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 6.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after purchasing an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $153.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $55.30 billion, a PE ratio of 32.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.79. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Research analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

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.