Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.08

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of 1.08 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is a 10.2% increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98.

Paychex has raised its dividend payment by an average of 13.2% per year over the last three years. Paychex has a dividend payout ratio of 68.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Paychex to earn $5.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.8%.

Paychex Trading Up 0.2 %

Paychex stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $149.27. The stock had a trading volume of 531,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,919,602. The firm has a market cap of $53.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $147.16 and a 200 day moving average of $145.09. Paychex has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Paychex stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

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.