Paycom Software (NYSE:PAYC) Trading Up 5.2% – Time to Buy?

Paycom Software, Inc. (NYSE:PAYC) traded up 5.2% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $219.45 and last traded at $218.72. 140,335 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 698,838 shares. The stock had previously closed at $207.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Paycom Software from $229.00 to $221.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Paycom Software from $215.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Paycom Software in a report on Thursday, February 13th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Paycom Software from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Paycom Software from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $212.80.

Paycom Software Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $209.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.78. The company has a market capitalization of $12.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.14.

Paycom Software (NYSE:PAYC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The software maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.03. Paycom Software had a net margin of 26.66% and a return on equity of 33.53%. On average, analysts anticipate that Paycom Software, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paycom Software Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Paycom Software’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paycom Software

In related news, COO Randall Peck sold 3,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.19, for a total value of $763,884.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,750,606.35. The trade was a 6.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J C. Watts, Jr. sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.22, for a total value of $109,110.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,686,840.60. This represents a 6.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 14.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in Paycom Software during the fourth quarter worth about $3,395,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Paycom Software during the 4th quarter worth approximately $460,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Paycom Software during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,068,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Paycom Software by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,392 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Paycom Software during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.77% of the company’s stock.

Paycom Software Company Profile

Paycom Software, Inc provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution delivered as software-as-a-service for small to mid-sized companies in the United States. It offers functionality and data analytics that businesses need to manage the employment life cycle from recruitment to retirement.