Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Rating Upgraded by TD Cowen

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) was upgraded by equities researchers at TD Cowen to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PAYX. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $100.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Paychex from $120.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Argus raised Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $106.38.

Paychex Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $94.49 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $92.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.98. The company has a market cap of $33.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Paychex has a 1 year low of $85.45 and a 1 year high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,333,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 41,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 47.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 156,680 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,790,000 after acquiring an additional 50,169 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.