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

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 10th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid 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 yield of 2.82%.

Paychex has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Paychex has a dividend payout ratio of 69.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $139.06. The stock had a trading volume of 1,904,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,052. The stock has a market cap of $50.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.33.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. This trade represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.