UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) had its price target raised by investment analysts at UBS Group from $152.00 to $155.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the business services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 0.57% from the company’s current price.

PAYX has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Up 0.5 %

PAYX opened at $154.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $55.49 billion, a PE ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $154.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% during 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 buying an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Paychex by 6.2% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 6.5% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 151.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 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.