Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price target upped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $137.00 to $142.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential downside of 5.55% from the company’s current price.

PAYX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Paychex stock traded up $0.16 on Thursday, reaching $150.35. The company had a trading volume of 1,254,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,796,835. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $148.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $54.14 billion, a PE ratio of 31.65, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Paychex by 34.1% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 1,783 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.