Citizens Jmp Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Stock

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Citizens Jmp from $150.00 to $180.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market outperform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Citizens Jmp’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.32% from the company’s current price.

PCTY has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Paylocity from $143.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Paylocity from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.53.

Paylocity Trading Down 0.1%

PCTY stock opened at $166.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Paylocity has a one year low of $92.99 and a one year high of $169.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $150.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.35.

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. Paylocity had a net margin of 15.23% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The company had revenue of $444.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.46 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Paylocity will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kenneth B. Robinson sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.41, for a total value of $126,728.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,068,475.45. This trade represents a 10.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrew Cappotelli sold 2,550 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total transaction of $382,066.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 44,329 shares in the company, valued at $6,641,814.07. The trade was a 5.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 92,408 shares of company stock valued at $14,647,821 over the last three months. Insiders own 19.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paylocity

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Paylocity in the second quarter worth about $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paylocity during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,540,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,906,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,867,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Paylocity by 143.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 606,158 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $65,489,000 after acquiring an additional 357,001 shares in the last quarter. 94.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.