Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) Stock Now Rated "Moderate Buy" by Sell-Side Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Paylocity a “Moderate Buy.” Twelve of 17 analysts recommend buying the stock, while five rate it a hold; the average 12-month price target is $160.53.
• Paylocity exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.84 EPS versus a $1.62 consensus and revenue of $444.73 million versus $431.46 million expected. Revenue increased 11% year over year.
• Institutional ownership stands at 94.76%, with BlackRock and several other major institutions recently establishing or adding positions, while insiders sold approximately $8.3 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $160.53.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Paylocity from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Paylocity from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Paylocity from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $201.00 price objective on shares of Paylocity in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Paylocity from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Paylocity Price Performance

Paylocity stock opened at $143.35 on Friday. Paylocity has a 52 week low of $92.99 and a 52 week high of $164.95. The company's 50 day moving average price is $145.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.60. The stock has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $444.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $431.46 million. Paylocity had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 15.23%.Paylocity's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Paylocity will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven Sarowitz sold 19,459 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.78, for a total transaction of $3,070,241.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,453,495 shares in the company, valued at $702,672,441.10. This trade represents a 0.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Glenn sold 3,345 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.75, for a total transaction of $500,913.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 122,563 shares in the company, valued at $18,353,809.25. This trade represents a 2.66% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,214 shares of company stock worth $8,322,580. 19.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PCTY. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Paylocity in the 2nd quarter valued at about $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Paylocity during the second quarter worth about $70,540,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Paylocity during the fourth quarter worth about $88,428,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Paylocity in the second quarter worth about $54,906,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Paylocity in the second quarter worth about $54,867,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paylocity Company Profile

Paylocity Holding Corporation is a provider of cloud-based human capital management (HCM) and workforce management software. Its platform is designed to help organizations manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, talent, compliance and workforce operations through a unified system.

The company's products and services include payroll processing, time and labor management, benefits administration, recruiting, onboarding, performance management, employee surveys and workplace communication tools.

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