Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target Increased to $113.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $111.00 to $113.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

PAYX has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $122.62.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $118.56 on Thursday. Paychex has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $129.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $122.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.96.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.63% and a net margin of 32.03%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

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 stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Paychex by 1.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 11,603 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 72,812 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,803 shares in the last quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth $284,000. Caxton Associates LP increased its position in shares of Paychex by 9.5% during the third quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 12,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 159.8% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 173,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $20,062,000 after purchasing an additional 106,997 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

About Paychex

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.