Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) insider Stephanie L. Schaeffer sold 1,631 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.80, for a total value of $190,500.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 66,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,747,811.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.
PAYX stock traded down $1.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $114.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,266,454 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,929,543. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $106.55 and a 52 week high of $141.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $119.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.20. The stock has a market cap of $41.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.98.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 29th. The business services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 43.65% and a net margin of 30.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 12th were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 11th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 82.29%.
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 33.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,443,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,698,137,000 after buying an additional 3,122,688 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.7% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,362,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,233,017,000 after buying an additional 1,445,699 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $185,510,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 89.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,594,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,566,000 after buying an additional 750,928 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,889,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,895,918,000 after buying an additional 553,659 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $127.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on 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, Cowen dropped their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.23.
Paychex Company Profile (Get Rating)
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 and Europe. The company offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.