Brokerages Set Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) PT at $122.62

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and ten have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $122.46.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays cut their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total transaction of $2,454,755.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 101,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.27, for a total value of $11,901,732.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 437,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,287,448.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in Paychex by 20.4% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 16,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,869 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 76.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings in Paychex by 3.1% during the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 4,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. IMS Capital Management grew its holdings in Paychex by 3.5% during the first quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 16,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,021,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 7.3% during the first quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8 %

PAYX stock opened at $117.43 on Friday. Paychex has a 1-year low of $106.27 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The firm has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $122.13 and its 200-day moving average is $121.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 83.94%.

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.