Certuity LLC Acquires New Holdings in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Certuity LLC bought a new position in shares of Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,164 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,536 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $141,303,000 after acquiring an additional 385,625 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 229,057 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paylocity by 297.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 119,560 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $19,724,000 after buying an additional 89,487 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Paylocity by 113.6% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 96,406 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $15,904,000 after buying an additional 51,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 1,896.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 47,966 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,913,000 after buying an additional 45,564 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Paylocity stock opened at $217.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.80. The stock has a market cap of $12.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.78, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.95. Paylocity Holding Co. has a 12-month low of $129.94 and a 12-month high of $223.80.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jeffrey T. Diehl sold 4,513 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.91, for a total value of $947,323.83. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,003 shares in the company, valued at $210,539.73. The trade was a 81.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.14, for a total value of $520,364.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,332,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,635,928.58. The trade was a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 126,434 shares of company stock worth $25,636,985 in the last quarter. 21.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PCTY shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Paylocity from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Paylocity from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho raised shares of Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paylocity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.25.

Paylocity 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.