Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) Stock Price Crosses Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $147.36 and traded as high as $147.67. Paylocity shares last traded at $147.39, with a volume of 556,936 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PCTY has been the subject of several recent research reports. BTIG Research upped their target price on Paylocity from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group set a $175.00 price objective on Paylocity in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Paylocity from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Paylocity from $180.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.29.

Paylocity Stock Up 1.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.27. The stock has a market cap of $7.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.50.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $444.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $431.46 million. Paylocity had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 15.23%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 3,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.80, for a total transaction of $493,136.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,207 shares in the company, valued at $346,057.60. This trade represents a 58.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrew Cappotelli sold 2,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.83, for a total value of $382,066.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 44,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,641,814.07. This trade represents a 5.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,214 shares of company stock worth $8,322,580. Company insiders own 19.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Paylocity

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Paylocity in the 2nd quarter worth about $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paylocity in the second quarter worth about $70,540,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 9.5% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 663,449 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $69,350,000 after buying an additional 57,291 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Paylocity by 17.8% in the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 616,407 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $66,597,000 after acquiring an additional 93,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Paylocity in the second quarter worth approximately $54,906,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) software for organizations and their employees. Its platform is designed to help businesses manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, workforce administration and related compliance activities through a unified system.

The company’s products and services include payroll processing, tax and regulatory support, time and labor management, benefits administration, talent acquisition and management, employee performance tools, expense management, reporting and analytics.