CenterBook Partners LP Acquires New Position in Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Key Points

• CenterBook Partners LP has acquired a new position in Paylocity Holding Corporation, purchasing 4,686 shares valued at approximately $878,000 in the first quarter of the year.
• Paylocity reported earnings of $1.56 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue growth of 12.2% year-over-year, reaching $400.74 million for the quarter.
• Analysts have a consensus target price of $223.19 for Paylocity, with four ratings for hold and thirteen for buy, indicating positive sentiment for the stock's future performance.

CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,686 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $878,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 4.0% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 171,994 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $32,221,000 after buying an additional 6,670 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 41.8% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,109 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 4.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 297,558 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $55,745,000 after buying an additional 12,002 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 7.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,312,832 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $807,966,000 after buying an additional 283,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Associated Banc Corp boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 4.5% in the first quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 1,207 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.76% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Andrew Cappotelli sold 1,717 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.74, for a total transaction of $303,462.58. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,112,573.22. This trade represents a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 21.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PCTY shares. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Stephens initiated coverage on Paylocity in a research report on Monday, July 21st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on Paylocity from $209.00 to $190.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Paylocity from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $220.00 price target on Paylocity and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Paylocity has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $223.19.

Paylocity Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PCTY traded down $6.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $176.94. The stock had a trading volume of 661,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 533,513. Paylocity Holding Corporation has a twelve month low of $146.02 and a twelve month high of $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.12, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.54. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $183.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $191.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.18. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.24% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The business had revenue of $400.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $388.25 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. Paylocity's revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

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.