Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $187.00 to $210.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Paylocity traded as high as $192.61 and last traded at $191.04, with a volume of 169598 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $178.16.

A number of other analysts have also commented on PCTY. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $175.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $172.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered their price target on Paylocity from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other news, SVP Rachit Lohani sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.83, for a total transaction of $107,142.14. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,474,772.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 21.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 worth $1,518,176,000 after purchasing an additional 278,607 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity in the first quarter worth $46,902,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 435.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 331,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $43,676,000 after buying an additional 269,354 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP grew its stake in Paylocity by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 810,314 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $106,840,000 after buying an additional 172,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Paylocity by 1,662.3% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 181,920 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $23,986,000 after acquiring an additional 171,597 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.70. The stock has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.95.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $357.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $350.29 million. Paylocity had a return on equity of 22.17% and a net margin of 14.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Paylocity Company Profile

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.