Short Interest in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) Declines By 18.7%

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,170,000 shares, a decrease of 18.7% from the June 30th total of 2,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 595,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 4.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Paylocity from $200.00 to $171.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Paylocity from $178.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Paylocity from $225.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Paylocity from $180.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paylocity currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.88.

Paylocity Trading Up 0.4 %

Paylocity stock traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $148.65. The company had a trading volume of 554,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,670. Paylocity has a 12 month low of $129.94 and a 12 month high of $230.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $141.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.97. The company has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 43.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.93.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.29. Paylocity had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 14.42%. The business had revenue of $401.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.93 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paylocity will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total transaction of $7,054,384.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,745,022 shares in the company, valued at $248,979,738.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total transaction of $7,054,384.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,745,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,979,738.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Glenn sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.06, for a total value of $196,084.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,352,224.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,173 shares of company stock valued at $7,296,388. Company insiders own 22.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Paylocity by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 192,028 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $31,654,000 after purchasing an additional 38,613 shares during the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 4th quarter worth $2,507,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 274.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 65,010 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $10,717,000 after acquiring an additional 47,663 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paylocity in the first quarter worth $1,540,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Paylocity during the fourth quarter valued at $1,938,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paylocity Company Profile

Paylocity Holding Corporation provides cloud-based human capital management and payroll software solutions for workforce in the United States. The company offers Payroll and Tax Services solution to simplifies payroll, automates processes, and manages compliance requirements within one system; and expense management, on demand payment, and garnishment solutions.