Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as $163.59 and last traded at $164.4380, with a volume of 32,013 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $159.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $201.00 price objective on shares of Paylocity in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Paylocity from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Paylocity from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Paylocity from $154.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paylocity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.76.

Paylocity Trading Up 3.8%

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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.50.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.84 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $431.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. Paylocity’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 6.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ryan Glenn sold 3,345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.75, for a total value of $500,913.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 122,563 shares in the company, valued at $18,353,809.25. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joshua Scutt sold 4,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.82, for a total transaction of $708,648.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 75,729 shares in the company, valued at $11,345,718.78. The trade was a 5.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,214 shares of company stock worth $8,322,580. 19.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCTY. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the 2nd quarter valued at $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the 2nd quarter worth $70,540,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 663,449 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $69,350,000 after acquiring an additional 57,291 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 616,407 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $66,597,000 after acquiring an additional 93,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 2nd quarter worth $54,906,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Company Profile

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software for organizations and their employees. Its platform is designed to help businesses manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, workforce administration and related compliance activities through a unified system.

The company’s products and services include payroll processing, tax and regulatory support, time and labor management, benefits administration, talent acquisition and management, employee performance tools, expense management, reporting and analytics.