Paychex, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.98 (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 10th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of 0.98 per share by the business services provider on Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th.

Paychex has increased its dividend by an average of 11.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Paychex has a payout ratio of 74.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Paychex to earn $5.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.8%.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $139.76 on Wednesday. Paychex has a 12 month low of $109.98 and a 12 month high of $144.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $136.69 and a 200-day moving average of $127.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $50.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,577,231 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.77.

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.