Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Upgraded by Jefferies Financial Group to “Buy”

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $200.00 target price on the software maker’s stock, up from their previous target price of $145.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $156.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $171.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $186.07.

Paylocity Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Paylocity stock opened at $175.12 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $161.74 and a 200-day moving average of $154.37. Paylocity has a 1-year low of $129.94 and a 1-year high of $194.65. The company has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of 48.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.95.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.19. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $357.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Paylocity will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Rachit Lohani sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.83, for a total value of $107,142.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,474,772.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 22.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paylocity

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PCTY. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Paylocity by 240.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 41,525 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,845,000 after purchasing an additional 29,338 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Paylocity by 34.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 303 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Paylocity by 3.5% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,098 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in Paylocity by 2.9% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,672 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in Paylocity by 35.0% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,396,692 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $411,895,000 after purchasing an additional 621,946 shares during the last quarter. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.