Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $186.00 to $200.00. The stock had previously closed at $149.60, but opened at $184.52. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Paylocity shares last traded at $173.43, with a volume of 588,506 shares.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Paylocity from $188.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Paylocity from $210.00 to $194.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $180.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Paylocity in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paylocity has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paylocity news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 7,760 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total transaction of $1,295,532.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,746,468 shares in the company, valued at $291,572,832.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 7,760 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total transaction of $1,295,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,746,468 shares in the company, valued at $291,572,832.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 24,504 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.47, for a total transaction of $4,299,716.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,587,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,682,383,899.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,547 shares of company stock worth $9,356,359 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 22.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paylocity

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Paylocity by 144.1% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the software maker's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank acquired a new position in Paylocity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Paylocity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, RiverPark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paylocity during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. 94.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paylocity Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.88. The company's fifty day moving average is $165.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.52.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The software maker reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $326.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.34 million. Paylocity had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 21.37%. As a group, analysts forecast that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation provides cloud-based human capital management and payroll software solutions for workforce in the United States. The company offers Payroll and Tax Services solution to simplifies payroll, automates processes, and manages compliance requirements within one system; and expense management, on demand payment, and garnishment solutions.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.