Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $233.25.

Several analysts have weighed in on PCTY shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Paylocity from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $214.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Paylocity Price Performance

Shares of Paylocity stock opened at $199.04 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $203.46 and a 200 day moving average of $188.55. Paylocity has a 52 week low of $129.94 and a 52 week high of $223.80. The company has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of 51.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.60). Paylocity had a return on equity of 22.45% and a net margin of 14.76%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Paylocity will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 2,295 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.83, for a total transaction of $472,379.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,426,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,734,470,542.62. This represents a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,949 shares of company stock worth $11,539,988. Insiders own 21.91% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paylocity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,029,402 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $803,745,000 after purchasing an additional 46,183 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Paylocity by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,332,213 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $265,737,000 after purchasing an additional 320,319 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Paylocity by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,073,988 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $214,275,000 after buying an additional 25,182 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 863,787 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $172,300,000 after buying an additional 7,251 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 138.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 650,599 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $129,775,000 after buying an additional 377,835 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation engages in the provision of cloud-based human capital management and payroll software solutions for workforce in the United States. The company offers payroll software solution for global payroll, expense management, tax services, on demand payment, and garnishment managed services; and time and labor management software for time and attendance, scheduling, and time collection.