American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) by 190.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 349,797 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 229,179 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Paylocity were worth $69,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCTY. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Paylocity by 3.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048,806 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $173,053,000 after purchasing an additional 36,590 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Paylocity by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,536 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $141,303,000 after purchasing an additional 385,625 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 3.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 517,931 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $85,444,000 after buying an additional 17,560 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Paylocity by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 381,010 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $76,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Paylocity by 283.8% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 309,761 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $51,101,000 after buying an additional 229,057 shares in the last quarter. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PCTY shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup raised Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $214.00 to $231.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Paylocity from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $214.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three investment 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.com, Paylocity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.25.

Paylocity Stock Performance

Shares of PCTY opened at $194.69 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $192.03. Paylocity Holding Co. has a 12-month low of $129.94 and a 12-month high of $223.80. The firm has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a PE ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 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 22.45%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In related news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 23,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.00, for a total transaction of $4,439,413.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 470,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,856,332. This trade represents a 4.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,926 shares of company stock worth $5,578,628. 21.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.