Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) to Issue Dividend Increase - $1.08 Per Share

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 2nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.89%. 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% annually over the last three years. Paychex has a dividend payout ratio of 68.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of PAYX traded up $2.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $149.53. The company had a trading volume of 211,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,917,328. Paychex has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $147.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.92.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other 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 value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Paychex stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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