HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Paylocity Holding Corporation $PCTY

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) by 9.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,375 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,732 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paylocity were worth $14,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Paylocity by 5.9% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 136,388 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,551,000 after buying an additional 7,594 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of Paylocity by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 1,365 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Paylocity by 537.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 465 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Paylocity by 2,782.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 35,688 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,466,000 after purchasing an additional 34,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Paylocity by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 19,241 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCTY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Paylocity from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Barclays upped their target price on Paylocity from $128.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Paylocity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.53.

Paylocity Stock Down 1.0%

PCTY stock opened at $142.10 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71 and a beta of 0.45. Paylocity Holding Corporation has a 12 month low of $92.99 and a 12 month high of $172.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last posted its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $431.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Ryan Glenn sold 3,345 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.75, for a total transaction of $500,913.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 122,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,353,809.25. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 3,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.80, for a total value of $493,136.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $346,057.60. This represents a 58.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,214 shares of company stock worth $8,322,580. 19.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Paylocity Profile

Paylocity (NASDAQ: PCTY) is a leading provider of cloud-based payroll and human capital management (HCM) software designed to streamline workforce administration for mid-sized organizations. The company’s integrated platform automates core functions such as payroll processing, benefits administration, time and labor tracking, and compliance management, enabling employers to manage employee data more efficiently and reduce administrative burdens.

In addition to payroll and HR capabilities, Paylocity offers talent management solutions including recruiting, onboarding, performance tracking, and learning management.