Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Given New $155.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its target price increased by UBS Group from $152.00 to $155.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $149.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $146.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $154.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after acquiring an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,772,544,000 after acquiring an additional 166,155 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,339,463,000 after acquiring an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. 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.