BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Stock

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) had its target price lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $175.00 to $203.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on PCTY. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Paylocity from $172.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on Paylocity from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Paylocity from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.87.

Paylocity Stock Performance

Paylocity stock opened at $191.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.32. Paylocity has a fifty-two week low of $129.94 and a fifty-two week high of $192.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $165.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.07. The company has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.93.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.19. Paylocity had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $357.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $350.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Paylocity will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Paylocity

In related news, SVP Rachit Lohani sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.83, for a total transaction of $107,142.14. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,474,772.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 21.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paylocity

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PCTY. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Paylocity by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,833,794 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,518,176,000 after acquiring an additional 278,607 shares in the last quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 27.1% in the second quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 810,314 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $106,840,000 after purchasing an additional 172,807 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paylocity by 20.5% in the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 579,801 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $76,447,000 after purchasing an additional 98,478 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Paylocity by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 472,686 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,324,000 after buying an additional 21,127 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 58.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 335,946 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,296,000 after buying an additional 123,744 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.