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

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

PCTY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paylocity from $211.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Paylocity from $214.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Paylocity Price Performance

NASDAQ PCTY opened at $196.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.30, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $201.56 and a 200 day moving average of $191.74. Paylocity has a one year low of $129.94 and a one year high of $223.80.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.60). Paylocity had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 22.45%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Paylocity will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other Paylocity news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 3,083 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.73, for a total value of $618,850.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,335,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,154,203.31. This trade represents a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 28,926 shares of company stock worth $5,578,628 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paylocity

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