Paychex, Inc. provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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. The company also provides HR solutions, including payroll, employer compliance, HR and employee benefits administration, risk management outsourcing, and the on-site availability of a professionally trained HR representative; and retirement services administration, including plan implementation, ongoing compliance with government regulations, employee and employer reporting, participant and employer online access, electronic funds transfer, and other administrative services. In addition, it offers cloud-based HR administration software products for employee benefits management and administration, time and attendance, digital communication solutions, recruiting, and onboarding solutions; plan administration outsourcing and state unemployment insurance services; various business services to small to medium-sized businesses comprising payroll funding and outsourcing services, which include payroll processing, invoicing, and tax preparation; and payment processing services, financial fitness programs, and a small-business loan resource center. Further, the company provides insurance services for property and casualty coverage, such as workers' compensation, business-owner policies, cyber security protection, and commercial auto, as well as health and benefits coverage, including health, dental, vision, and life. It markets and sells its services primarily through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Rochester, New York.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $127.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $138.00 to $124.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. Finally, Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $129.23.
Paychex Trading Up 1.5 %
Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $132.84 on Thursday. Paychex has a 1-year low of $106.55 and a 1-year high of $141.92. The company has a market cap of $47.96 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $120.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.30.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 29th. The business services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 30.20% and a return on equity of 43.65%. Paychex's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Paychex Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 10th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.29%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, insider Stephanie L. Schaeffer sold 1,631 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.80, for a total transaction of $190,500.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 66,334 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,747,811.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Paychex news, CFO Efrain Rivera sold 30,866 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total value of $3,584,468.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 86,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,990,780.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephanie L. Schaeffer sold 1,631 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.80, for a total transaction of $190,500.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 66,334 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,747,811.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,837 shares of company stock valued at $10,539,336 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.50% of the company's stock.
