Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 107,323 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $20,106,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PCTY. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 9,603 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Paylocity by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 19,118 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,813,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 274 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Paylocity by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,156 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $630,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PCTY. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Paylocity from $246.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $204.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Paylocity from $250.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Paylocity from $210.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paylocity presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.00.

Paylocity Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCTY opened at $179.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $190.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.89. Paylocity Holding Co. has a 1-year low of $129.94 and a 1-year high of $223.80.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The software maker reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $454.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $441.77 million. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 22.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.21 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In related news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 23,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.00, for a total transaction of $4,439,413.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 470,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $89,856,332. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 21.91% of the company’s stock.

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.