Paychex (PAYX) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) is projected to post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday, March 26th. Analysts expect Paychex to post earnings of $1.48 per share and revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Paychex to post $5 EPS for the current fiscal year and $5 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $143.02 on Monday. Paychex has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 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’s 50 day moving average price is $147.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.78. The firm has a market cap of $51.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price target 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 increased their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Institutional Trading of Paychex

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Paychex stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Company Profile

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.