Paychex - PAYX Stock Forecast, Price & News

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.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX traded up $3.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $135.61. 1,824,633 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,413,061. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.96 billion, a PE ratio of 35.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.57. Paychex has a fifty-two week low of $106.55 and a fifty-two week high of $141.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 29th. The business services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.11 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 30.20% and a return on equity of 43.65%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 11th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 10th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $165.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 30th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Paychex from $138.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, June 29th. Finally, Cowen decreased their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 4,184 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.34, for a total value of $474,214.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 60,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,860,583.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 4,184 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.34, for a total value of $474,214.56. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 60,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,860,583.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Efrain Rivera sold 30,866 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 86,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,990,780.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,837 shares of company stock valued at $10,539,336 in the last quarter. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.