Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $184.71.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Paylocity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Paylocity in a report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Paylocity in a report on Thursday, October 17th. BTIG Research lowered their price target on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Paylocity from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday.

Paylocity Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PCTY opened at $173.74 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $162.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.67. Paylocity has a one year low of $129.94 and a one year high of $184.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a PE ratio of 47.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.95.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.19. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The firm had revenue of $357.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Paylocity will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paylocity 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,764 shares in the company, valued at $6,474,772.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 22.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Paylocity in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,540,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Paylocity by 55.2% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 36,818 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,328,000 after acquiring an additional 13,093 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paylocity during the first quarter valued at $729,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Paylocity by 3.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,833,794 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,518,176,000 after acquiring an additional 278,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of Paylocity during the first quarter valued at $46,902,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Company Profile

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.