Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target Increased to $148.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $130.00 to $148.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $138.65 on Wednesday. Paychex has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.91 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $130.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.85.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $1,106,714.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $674,005.43. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 45,673 shares of company stock valued at $5,636,085. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,541,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,750,472,000 after acquiring an additional 123,268 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Paychex by 12.8% in the 1st 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 during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.2% in the 4th 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 during the period. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in Paychex by 32.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Paychex by 155.6% in the 1st 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 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.