Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) – Investment analysts at Wedbush lowered their FY2018 EPS estimates for shares of Paychex in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 18th. Wedbush analyst M. Katri now forecasts that the business services provider will earn $2.51 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $2.53. Wedbush also issued estimates for Paychex’s Q4 2018 earnings at $0.67 EPS.
Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BidaskClub cut shares of Paychex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Bank of America cut shares of Paychex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $73.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $66.00 target price (down previously from $68.00) on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 27th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $67.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Paychex from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.94.
Shares of Paychex stock opened at $60.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21,926.58, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex has a 12-month low of $54.20 and a 12-month high of $73.10.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 27.22% and a return on equity of 43.42%. The company had revenue of $866.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $853.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis.
In other Paychex news, insider Michael E. Gioja sold 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.63, for a total value of $6,779,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 170,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,537,127.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.70% of the company’s stock.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Field & Main Bank purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $101,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $109,000. Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $126,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $151,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.66% of the company’s stock.
About Paychex
Paychex, Inc provides payroll, human resource (HR), retirement, and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States and Germany. The company offers payroll processing services that include payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.
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