Citizens Jmp Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Stock

Key Points

• Citizens JMP raised Paylocity’s price target from $180 to $200 and maintained a “market outperform” rating, implying 13.75% upside from the share price cited in the report.
• Paylocity beat quarterly expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $2.09 versus $1.93 expected and revenue of $451.7 million versus $443.1 million expected; revenue grew 10.7% year over year, and its full-year outlook slightly exceeded expectations.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: MarketBeat reported a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with 12 Buy ratings and five Hold ratings. Shares rose 3.7% on Friday to $175.82.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by research analysts at Citizens Jmp from $180.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "market outperform" rating on the software maker's stock. Citizens Jmp's price objective points to a potential upside of 13.75% from the company's current price.

PCTY has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $201.00 target price on Paylocity in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Paylocity from $178.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. UBS Group set a $175.00 price objective on Paylocity in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.65.

Paylocity Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:PCTY traded up $6.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $175.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 158,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,421. The company has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of 35.57, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.43. Paylocity has a fifty-two week low of $92.99 and a fifty-two week high of $178.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $155.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.26.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The software maker reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $451.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.12 million. Paylocity had a net margin of 15.23% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The company's revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paylocity will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Paylocity

In other Paylocity news, Chairman Steven R. Beauchamp sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.22, for a total value of $2,478,300.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 1,243,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at $205,432,730.58. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Steven Sarowitz sold 19,459 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.78, for a total value of $3,070,241.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,453,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $702,672,441.10. The trade was a 0.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 151,704 shares of company stock worth $25,137,741 in the last three months. 19.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Paylocity by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,639 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Paylocity by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,472 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Paylocity by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 861 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in Paylocity by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,653 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,535,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Paylocity by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the software maker's stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.76% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Paylocity

Here are the key news stories impacting Paylocity this week:

• Positive Sentiment: For fiscal Q1 2027, Paylocity reported adjusted earnings of $2.09 per share, ahead of the $1.93 consensus estimate, and revenue of $451.7 million versus $443.1 million expected. Revenue grew 10.7% year over year, while recurring and other revenue rose 12% to $424.5 million. Paylocity Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s full-year outlook slightly exceeded expectations, adding to the positive earnings report. Paylocity’s Q3 CY2026 results and outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their targets while maintaining Buy ratings: Truist increased its target to $200 from $165, and BTIG raised its target to $210 from $200. The revisions signal improved analyst expectations for the shares. Truist raises Paylocity price target
• Positive Sentiment: Paylocity repurchased $152.5 million of shares during the quarter and reported $850.2 million in cumulative repurchases since May 2024, supporting shareholder returns. It also completed its acquisition of Aidora, expanding its AI-powered leave-management capabilities. Paylocity first-quarter financial results

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation NASDAQ: PCTY provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) and payroll software for organizations. Its platform is designed to help employers manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, talent acquisition, onboarding, performance, learning, and workforce administration through an integrated system.

The company also offers tools for time and labor management, scheduling, employee communications, engagement, surveys, expense management, and other workplace activities.

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