Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) PT Raised to $133.00 at Morgan Stanley

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $133.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential downside of 4.56% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

Paychex Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $139.36 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $130.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.70. Paychex has a 12 month low of $106.27 and a 12 month high of $142.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $50.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $1,106,714.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,793,075.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 8,954 shares of the business’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 sale, the vice president now owns 79,232 shares in the company, valued at $9,793,075.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 45,673 shares of company stock worth $5,636,085. 11.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Capital International Investors increased its position in Paychex by 12.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,563,853,000 after buying an additional 2,373,894 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 155.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,508,681 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 1st quarter worth about $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Paychex by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $267,695,000 after purchasing an additional 793,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted 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 purchasing an additional 623,000 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.