Castleark Management LLC Acquires 28,610 Shares of Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Castleark Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY - Free Report) by 1,755.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,240 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 28,610 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Paylocity worth $6,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PCTY. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Paylocity in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Paylocity by 41.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 247 shares of the software maker's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paylocity by 489.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 274 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Paylocity in the fourth quarter worth about $72,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PCTY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Paylocity from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on Paylocity from $245.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Paylocity in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $223.00.

Paylocity Price Performance

Shares of PCTY stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $194.97. The company had a trading volume of 93,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 460,097. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $189.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.63. Paylocity Holding Co. has a one year low of $129.94 and a one year high of $223.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The software maker reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $454.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.77 million. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 22.45%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.21 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Paylocity

In other news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 23,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.00, for a total value of $4,439,413.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 470,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,856,332. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 21.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Paylocity

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.