Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 148,807 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 18,480 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Paylocity were worth $19,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Paylocity by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 192,028 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $31,654,000 after acquiring an additional 38,613 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Paylocity during the 4th quarter worth about $2,507,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Paylocity by 274.8% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 65,010 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,717,000 after buying an additional 47,663 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,540,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Paylocity in the fourth quarter worth about $1,938,000. 94.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paylocity Stock Performance

Shares of PCTY stock opened at $162.50 on Wednesday. Paylocity Holding Co. has a fifty-two week low of $129.94 and a fifty-two week high of $206.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $147.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.24, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.92.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 EPS 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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PCTY. Citigroup decreased their price target on Paylocity from $178.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Paylocity from $205.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $194.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on Paylocity from $200.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paylocity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.13.

Insider Activity

In other Paylocity news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total value of $7,054,384.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,745,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $248,979,738.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total value of $7,054,384.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,745,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $248,979,738.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Glenn sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.06, for a total value of $196,084.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,074 shares in the company, valued at $4,352,224.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 51,173 shares of company stock worth $7,296,388 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 22.50% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Company Profile

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.