JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Price

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price target boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $148.00 to $153.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Paychex from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Paychex from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup set a $158.00 target price on shares of Paychex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $155.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.70.

Paychex Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $137.49 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $145.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.16. Paychex has a 12-month low of $124.64 and a 12-month high of $161.24. The stock has a market cap of $49.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.19. Paychex had a net margin of 29.75% and a return on equity of 45.01%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paychex news, Chairman Martin Mucci sold 97,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.17, for a total transaction of $14,157,849.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 446,917 shares in the company, valued at $64,878,940.89. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John B. Gibson sold 12,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.92, for a total transaction of $1,755,550.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,602,669.60. The trade was a 13.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paychex

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,215,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,686,133,000 after purchasing an additional 408,114 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,905,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,772,544,000 after buying an additional 166,155 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,066,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,046,050,000 after buying an additional 355,294 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,033,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,604,906,000 after buying an additional 251,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,183,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,481,053,000 after buying an additional 274,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.