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

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 10th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.98 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%.

Paychex has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Paychex has a dividend payout ratio of 69.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $139.90. 326,833 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,688,447. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.24. Paychex has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $50.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Paychex will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.