Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.79.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Paychex from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $119.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Paychex from $119.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on Paychex in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Paychex from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Paychex from $119.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Paychex by 117.8% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth $26,000. Heritage Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 260.0% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.14% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $108.33 on Thursday. Paychex has a 52 week low of $104.78 and a 52 week high of $139.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The business services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 30.54%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.89 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 10th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 85.78%.

Paychex Company Profile

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Paychex, Inc engages in the provision of human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, insurance and retirement for small and medium-sized businesses. Its solutions include payroll services, hiring services, business insurance, time and attendance, employee benefits, finance and payments, human resources services and startup services.