Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Given New $214.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its Paylocity price target from $208 to $214 and maintained a Buy rating, implying 18.49% potential upside from the stock’s then-current price.
• Analyst sentiment was broadly positive: 12 analysts rated PCTY Buy and five Hold, for a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $177.82.
• Paylocity beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $2.09 versus $1.93 expected and revenue of $451.67 million versus $443.12 million expected; revenue grew 10.7% year over year.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by Citigroup from $208.00 to $214.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the software maker's stock. Citigroup's price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.49% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PCTY. Robert W. Baird set a $201.00 price target on Paylocity in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Paylocity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paylocity from $162.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $177.82.

Paylocity Trading Up 4.3%

PCTY traded up $7.45 during trading on Monday, reaching $180.60. 431,424 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 770,949. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a PE ratio of 35.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.43. The company's fifty day moving average price is $156.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.04. Paylocity has a fifty-two week low of $92.99 and a fifty-two week high of $181.57.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The software maker reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.16. Paylocity had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 15.40%. The firm had revenue of $451.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $443.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.75 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paylocity will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 8,900 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.31, for a total value of $1,524,659.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,354,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at $746,032,608.39. This trade represents a 0.20% decrease in their position. 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, Chairman Steven Beauchamp sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.22, for a total value of $2,478,300.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,243,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $205,432,730.58. This trade represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 151,704 shares of company stock worth $25,137,741 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Paylocity in the second quarter valued at approximately $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the second quarter valued at about $70,540,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Paylocity by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 663,449 shares of the software maker's stock worth $69,350,000 after acquiring an additional 57,291 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paylocity by 17.8% in the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 616,407 shares of the software maker's stock worth $66,597,000 after purchasing an additional 93,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Paylocity in the second quarter worth approximately $54,906,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation provides cloud-based human capital management and payroll software to businesses in the United States. Its platform brings together tools that help employers manage payroll, human resources, benefits, and workforce operations.

Products and services include payroll processing, benefits administration, time and labor management, talent acquisition and development, employee communications, and expense management. The platform is designed to help organizations streamline administrative work and support employees and managers through a unified system.

Founded in 1997 by Steve Sarowitz, Paylocity is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.