Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Price Target Raised to $156.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price objective boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $141.00 to $156.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $151.83 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $148.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.10. Paychex has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Paychex by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after purchasing an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

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.