Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) PT Raised to $148.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $130.00 to $148.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.20% from the stock’s current price.

PAYX has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $139.36 on Wednesday. Paychex has a one year low of $106.27 and a one year high of $142.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $130.19 and a 200-day moving average of $124.70. 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 cap of $50.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total value of $1,807,281.14. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,005.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 9,615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.60, for a total value of $1,207,644.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $676,104.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,673 shares of company stock worth $5,636,085 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Czech National Bank raised its position in Paychex by 8.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 61,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,400,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 85.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,259,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $154,263,000 after buying an additional 579,136 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,330,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $774,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by 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.