StockNews.com Downgrades Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) to Hold

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on PCTY. Citigroup upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $214.00 to $231.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on Paylocity from $211.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho raised Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Paylocity from $214.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paylocity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Paylocity Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PCTY opened at $209.13 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $201.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.16. The company has a market cap of $11.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Paylocity has a 12-month low of $129.94 and a 12-month high of $223.80.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.60). Paylocity had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 22.93%. On average, research analysts expect that Paylocity will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other Paylocity news, SVP Andrew Cappotelli sold 247 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.29, for a total transaction of $47,742.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,828,605.86. This trade represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey T. Diehl sold 946 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.74, for a total value of $193,684.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,767 shares in the company, valued at $361,775.58. The trade was a 34.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 127,380 shares of company stock valued at $25,830,669 in the last quarter. 21.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Paylocity by 16,397.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,754 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 7,707 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Paylocity by 222.3% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 10,837 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,788,000 after acquiring an additional 7,475 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in Paylocity by 14.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 44,897 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,407,000 after acquiring an additional 5,609 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Paylocity by 5,742.0% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,842 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 5,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Paylocity by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 282,426 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $46,592,000 after acquiring an additional 4,697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

About Paylocity

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.