Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Sector Perform” Rating for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $130.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on PAYX. Wedbush reissued a neutral rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reissued an in-line rating and set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $122.62.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $118.56 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $122.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $42.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $106.27 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The business services provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.03% and a return on equity of 46.63%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 83.94%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 80.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,887,000 after buying an additional 152,818 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 366.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 16,391 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $1,229,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Paychex by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after buying an additional 466,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

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.