Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target Raised to $141.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $130.00 to $141.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 1.18% from the stock’s current price.

PAYX has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Paychex from $121.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.77.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $139.36 on Wednesday. Paychex has a one year low of $106.27 and a one year high of $142.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 14,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.21, for a total transaction of $1,807,281.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $674,005.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,670 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.53, for a total transaction of $1,514,445.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 55,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,663,199.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,673 shares of company stock worth $5,636,085 over the last 90 days. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Paychex by 12.8% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,878,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,563,853,000 after buying an additional 2,373,894 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Paychex by 155.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,478,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $304,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,681 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the first quarter valued at about $146,617,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 57.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,179,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $267,695,000 after buying an additional 793,468 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,548,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,492,000 after buying an additional 623,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.