Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 135,500 Shares of Paylocity Holding Corporation $PCTY

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Paylocity stake by 32.7%, selling 135,500 shares in the third quarter while retaining 279,132 shares valued at approximately $39.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 94.76% of the company.
• Paylocity reported quarterly earnings of $1.84 per share, beating estimates of $1.62, while revenue rose 11% year over year to $444.73 million. Analysts expect $6.92 in earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with 12 Buy ratings and five Hold ratings, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $163.76; however, insiders have sold approximately $13.7 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY - Free Report) by 32.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 279,132 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 135,500 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.53% of Paylocity worth $39,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Curated Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paylocity during the third quarter worth about $498,000. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paylocity during the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Seelaus Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paylocity during the third quarter valued at approximately $304,000. Krilogy Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 6.5% during the third quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 6,741 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its position in shares of Paylocity by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 7,777 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the period. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paylocity Stock Up 0.0%

PCTY stock opened at $166.32 on Friday. Paylocity Holding Corporation has a 52 week low of $92.99 and a 52 week high of $169.09. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's 50-day moving average is $149.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Andrew Cappotelli sold 2,550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $382,066.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 44,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,641,814.07. This trade represents a 5.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 3,145 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.80, for a total value of $493,136.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,207 shares of the company's stock, valued at $346,057.60. This represents a 58.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 86,908 shares of company stock worth $13,734,546. 19.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCTY has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group set a $175.00 price target on Paylocity in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Paylocity from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $201.00 price objective on Paylocity in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Paylocity from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $163.76.

Paylocity Profile

Paylocity Holding Corporation NASDAQ: PCTY provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software for organizations and their employees. Its platform is designed to help businesses manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, workforce administration and related compliance activities through a unified system.

The company's products and services include payroll processing, tax and regulatory support, time and labor management, benefits administration, talent acquisition and management, employee performance tools, expense management, reporting and analytics.

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.