Stifel Nicolaus Lowers Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target to $152.00

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $156.00 to $152.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

PAYX has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $140.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.00.

Paychex Trading Up 2.2%

PAYX opened at $141.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $151.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.75. Paychex has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $161.24. The stock has a market cap of $50.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.01% and a net margin of 29.75%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in Paychex in the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the first quarter worth $34,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.