Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $130.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

PAYX has been the subject of several other research reports. Wedbush restated a neutral rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $122.62.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $118.56 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $122.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.95. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The firm has a market cap of $42.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 80.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,887,000 after purchasing an additional 152,818 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 366.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 16,391 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $1,229,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Paychex by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after purchasing an additional 466,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

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.