California State Teachers Retirement System Grows Position in Paylocity Holding Corporation $PCTY

Key Points

• Institutional ownership increased: California State Teachers Retirement System raised its Paylocity stake by 1.2% to 50,191 shares, while institutional investors collectively own 94.76% of the company.
• Paylocity reported solid quarterly results: Earnings per share came in at $1.84 versus the $1.62 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 11% year over year to $444.73 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable: The stock carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $160.53, although insiders have sold $8.3 million worth of shares over the past three months.

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY - Free Report) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,191 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of Paylocity worth $5,246,465 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Paylocity by 45.0% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,974 shares of the software maker's stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. AlphaGrep UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the 2nd quarter worth about $230,000. Syon Capital LLC increased its holdings in Paylocity by 101.7% in the second quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 8,419 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $880,000 after buying an additional 4,246 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Paylocity in the second quarter valued at $1,399,000. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Paylocity during the 2nd quarter valued at $256,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PCTY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Paylocity from $128.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $143.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Paylocity from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Paylocity from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Paylocity from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 29th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paylocity has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $160.53.

Paylocity Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ PCTY traded down $1.25 on Tuesday, hitting $146.72. 219,408 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 791,844. The company's 50-day moving average price is $140.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.57. Paylocity Holding Corporation has a 52-week low of $92.99 and a 52-week high of $169.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.69 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Paylocity 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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