Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target Raised to $156.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $141.00 to $156.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 3.29% from the company’s previous close.

PAYX has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.58.

Paychex Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $151.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $148.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.23. The company has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,772,544,000 after buying an additional 166,155 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in 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 period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.