Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Citizens Jmp raised their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $180.00. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Paylocity traded as high as $171.53 and last traded at $170.06, with a volume of 696,298 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $166.17.

Several other research firms also recently commented on PCTY. UBS Group set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $154.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Paylocity from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Paylocity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Paylocity from $143.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 10,617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.76, for a total value of $1,802,341.92. Following the sale, the director owned 4,404,139 shares in the company, valued at $747,646,636.64. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Chairman Steven Beauchamp sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.22, for a total transaction of $2,478,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 1,243,389 shares in the company, valued at $205,432,730.58. The trade was a 1.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 113,470 shares of company stock worth $18,186,748. Corporate insiders own 19.40% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Paylocity this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Paylocity launched its AI-powered Recruiting Optimizer, part of its Ignite AI platform. The tool is designed to improve recruiter productivity by 35%, accelerate hiring by 25% and reduce candidate drop-off by 15%, supporting the company’s effort to differentiate its cloud-based human capital management software. Paylocity launches AI-powered Recruiting Optimizer
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP raised its price target for PCTY from $150 to $180 while maintaining a “market outperform” rating, signaling confidence in additional upside. Citizens JMP raises Paylocity price target
• Positive Sentiment: Paylocity’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings of $1.84 per share versus the $1.62 consensus estimate and revenue of $444.73 million versus $431.46 million expected. Revenue grew 11% year over year, reinforcing the company’s growth and profitability profile.
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Steven Sarowitz sold 10,617 shares for approximately $1.80 million on October 20, following a sale of 10,445 shares worth about $1.74 million on October 19. Both trades were executed under a Rule 10b5-1 plan; Sarowitz still owns more than 4.4 million shares, so the sales reduced his position only modestly. Paylocity director stock sale filing

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paylocity

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCTY. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Paylocity by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,639 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $661,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,472 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 861 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,653 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,535,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 37.7% in the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. 94.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paylocity Stock Up 4.9%

The stock has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $151.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $127.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.22. Paylocity had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 15.23%. The company had revenue of $444.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.46 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. Paylocity’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 6.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paylocity Company Profile

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) and payroll software for organizations. Its platform is designed to help employers manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, talent acquisition, onboarding, performance, learning, and workforce administration through an integrated system.

The company also offers tools for time and labor management, scheduling, employee communications, engagement, surveys, expense management, and other workplace activities.