Quest Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) by 82,275.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,590 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,582 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Paylocity were worth $869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PCTY. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 119.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,211,021 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $199,637,000 after purchasing an additional 658,057 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 35.0% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,396,692 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $411,895,000 after purchasing an additional 621,946 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 2,212.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 381,952 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,965,000 after purchasing an additional 365,435 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 3.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,833,794 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,518,176,000 after purchasing an additional 278,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity in the first quarter valued at about $46,902,000. 94.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other news, CAO Nicholas Rost sold 331 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.73, for a total value of $45,919.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,106.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Nicholas Rost sold 331 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.73, for a total value of $45,919.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $659,106.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total transaction of $7,054,384.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,745,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,979,738.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,173 shares of company stock worth $7,296,388 over the last three months. Insiders own 22.50% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Price Performance

Shares of PCTY opened at $157.96 on Wednesday. Paylocity Holding Co. has a 1-year low of $129.94 and a 1-year high of $206.28. The stock has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.27.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.19. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The business had revenue of $357.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.29 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PCTY shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BTIG Research reduced their target price on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Paylocity from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Paylocity from $160.00 to $156.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paylocity has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.13.

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.