Paychex’s (PAYX) “Sector Perform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $130.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.34% from the company’s current price.

PAYX has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen restated a “market perform” rating and set a $123.00 price objective (down previously from $132.00) on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Paychex from $134.00 to $126.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $119.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $121.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.24. Paychex has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total value of $1,865,924.93. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 82,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex during the second quarter valued at $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. West Tower Group LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 112.8% in the fourth quarter. West Tower Group LLC now owns 232 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 91.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.