Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Director Sells $17,023.00 in Stock

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) Director Steven Sarowitz sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.23, for a total value of $17,023.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,354,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $741,312,326.87. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Paylocity Stock Up 1.5%

PCTY stock opened at $170.91 on Friday. Paylocity Holding Corporation has a twelve month low of $92.99 and a twelve month high of $178.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $154.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.67.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $444.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $431.46 million. Paylocity had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 15.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Paylocity by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,639 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $661,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in Paylocity by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,472 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its position in shares of Paylocity by 16.0% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 861 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Paylocity by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 29,653 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,535,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 37.7% in the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Key Paylocity News

Here are the key news stories impacting Paylocity this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target from $165 to $200 and maintained an “overweight” rating. The new target implies additional upside and is the most immediate catalyst supporting PCTY. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst rating
• Positive Sentiment: KeyBanc maintained its “buy” rating, while other firms including Guggenheim and BTIG Research have recently cited $200 targets. The continued concentration of bullish ratings reinforces confidence in Paylocity’s growth outlook. KeyBanc rating
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are positioning ahead of the company’s upcoming earnings report. Zacks identifies Paylocity as a potential earnings-beat candidate, supported by cloud and AI-related software demand. In the latest reported quarter, EPS of $1.84 exceeded the $1.62 consensus and revenue grew 11% year over year. Zacks software earnings outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 94.8% of PCTY, indicating strong sponsorship. However, the stock’s valuation—roughly 34 times earnings—leaves less room for disappointment if results or guidance fall short.
• Negative Sentiment: Director Steven Sarowitz sold 8,900 shares for approximately $1.52 million and an additional 100 shares for $17,023. Both transactions were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, and he still owns more than 4.35 million shares. The limited reduction in ownership reduces the significance of the sales, but repeated insider selling may weigh modestly on sentiment. SEC insider transaction filing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PCTY. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Paylocity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 24th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Paylocity from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.88.

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) and payroll software for organizations. Its platform is designed to help employers manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, talent acquisition, onboarding, performance, learning, and workforce administration through an integrated system.

The company also offers tools for time and labor management, scheduling, employee communications, engagement, surveys, expense management, and other workplace activities.