Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.98 on February 27th

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 10th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.98 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%.

Paychex has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Paychex has a dividend payout ratio of 69.4% meaning 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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $139.06 on Friday. Paychex has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $150.71. The stock has a market cap of $50.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.35 and a 200-day moving average of $134.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex 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 owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.