Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on PCTY. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $258.00 price target (up from $254.00) on shares of Paylocity in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Paylocity from $255.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Paylocity from $246.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Mizuho cut their price objective 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, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Paylocity from $250.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.00.

Paylocity Stock Up 0.1%

PCTY opened at $199.47 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Paylocity has a 1-year low of $129.94 and a 1-year high of $223.80. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a PE ratio of 51.15, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.27.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The software maker reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $454.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $441.77 million. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 22.45%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paylocity will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paylocity news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 23,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 470,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,856,332. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 21.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCTY. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Paylocity during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 115.9% during the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 149 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the first quarter worth $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 41.1% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 247 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the first quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

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.