Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) PT Set at $140.00 by Jefferies Financial Group

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) has been given a $140.00 price objective by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 1.49% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on PAYX. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price target on shares of Paychex and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays set a $155.00 price objective on Paychex and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.27.

Paychex Stock Down 9.4%

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $137.94 on Thursday. Paychex has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $151.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The business services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.19. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.30% and a net margin of 31.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in Paychex by 99.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 3,494,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,102,000 after buying an additional 1,738,372 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $184,216,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 20,236.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,153,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147,419 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at $134,192,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,663,474,000 after acquiring an additional 737,542 shares during the period. 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.