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.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $123.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, May 23rd. William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, June 29th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $129.23.
Paychex Stock Down 0.1 %
Shares of Paychex stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $138.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,423,626. Paychex has a one year low of $106.55 and a one year high of $141.92. The company has a market capitalization of $49.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $121.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.25.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 29th. The business services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 30.20% and a return on equity of 43.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.
Paychex Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 11th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 10th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.29%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex
In related news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 1,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.81, for a total transaction of $144,552.87. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 51,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,022,682.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Efrain Rivera sold 30,866 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.13, for a total transaction of $3,584,468.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 86,031 shares in the company, valued at $9,990,780.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 1,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.81, for a total transaction of $144,552.87. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 51,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,022,682.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 90,837 shares of company stock valued at $10,539,336. Corporate insiders own 11.50% of the company's stock.
