Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) Short Interest Down 12.9% in September

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) saw a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a decline of 12.9% from the August 31st total of 2,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 523,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Paylocity Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:PCTY opened at $161.39 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $155.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.64. Paylocity has a 12-month low of $129.94 and a 12-month high of $206.28. The firm has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a PE ratio of 46.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.94.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The software maker reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.19. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.74% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The firm had revenue of $357.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $350.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Paylocity will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.68, for a total value of $7,054,384.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,745,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $248,979,738.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 49,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Glenn sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.06, for a total transaction of $196,084.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,352,224.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,974 shares of company stock worth $7,272,256. Corporate insiders own 22.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the 2nd quarter worth about $194,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Paylocity in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,641,000. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in Paylocity during the second quarter worth approximately $1,318,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Paylocity by 435.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 331,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $43,676,000 after buying an additional 269,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 2nd quarter valued at $400,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PCTY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Paylocity in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on Paylocity from $160.00 to $156.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Paylocity from $180.00 to $153.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Paylocity from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Paylocity from $194.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.13.

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.