Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $150.75 and last traded at $150.54, with a volume of 726850 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $149.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Up 0.9 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $137.71. The company has a market cap of $54.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 65,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,761,000 after buying an additional 4,242 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 21.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 181.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 7,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 4,912 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth $226,000. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 34,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,606,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

About Paychex

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.