Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 5,701 Paylocity Holding Corporation $PCTY

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,701 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $596,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paylocity during the second quarter worth $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Paylocity in the second quarter valued at $70,540,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Paylocity during the third quarter valued at $104,657,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Paylocity during the 4th quarter worth about $88,428,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Paylocity in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,906,000. 94.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Paylocity

Here are the key news stories impacting Paylocity this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher long-term earnings forecasts: Zacks Research raised its FY2027 EPS estimate to $6.33 from $5.98 and its FY2028 forecast to $7.18 from $6.67. It also initiated a FY2029 estimate of $8.28 and increased several quarterly forecasts, signaling improved expectations for Paylocity’s earnings trajectory. Zacks nevertheless maintained a “Hold” rating. Zacks Research comments on Paylocity FY2029 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: AI recruiting traction: Paylocity’s partner HireQuotient highlighted results at Alliance Building Services, where its AI-native recruiting platform reportedly reduced manual recruiting work by 70% and cut time-to-hire by more than half. The customer example supports demand for Paylocity’s integrated human-capital-management ecosystem. Paylocity partners for AI-powered recruiting
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum: Paylocity traded higher alongside MongoDB, Datadog, Five9 and Monday.com, suggesting investor appetite for software and technology shares also contributed to the stock’s recent strength. Software stocks trade higher
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed estimate revisions: Zacks slightly reduced its Q2 2028 EPS forecast to $1.57 from $1.58 and Q4 2027 to $1.39 from $1.43, partly offsetting the broader upward revisions. The current-year consensus remains approximately $6.86 per share.
• Neutral Sentiment: Limited insider sale: Director Steven Sarowitz sold 441 shares for approximately $68,355 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transaction reduced his holdings by only 0.01%, leaving him with nearly 4.47 million shares, making it unlikely to materially alter investor sentiment. Paylocity director stock sale
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation risk remains: With PCTY trading near its 52-week high and at roughly 32 times earnings, the stock may be vulnerable if future growth slows or estimates are revised lower. Zacks’ continued “Hold” rating reinforces that the improved outlook is not yet a broad-based bullish endorsement.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on PCTY. Barclays upped their target price on Paylocity from $128.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $143.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Paylocity from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Paylocity from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paylocity has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.53.

Paylocity Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Paylocity stock opened at $157.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 0.48. Paylocity Holding Corporation has a 52 week low of $92.99 and a 52 week high of $180.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $131.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last announced 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. Paylocity had a net margin of 15.23% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The business had revenue of $444.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $431.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. Paylocity’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Paylocity Holding Corporation will post 6.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In related news, SVP Joshua Scutt sold 4,730 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.82, for a total transaction of $708,648.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 75,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,345,718.78. The trade was a 5.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 11,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $1,679,420.16. Following the sale, the director owned 4,535,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,931,192.12. This trade represents a 0.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 30,741 shares of company stock worth $4,621,962 in the last quarter. 19.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Paylocity

Paylocity (NASDAQ: PCTY) is a leading provider of cloud-based payroll and human capital management (HCM) software designed to streamline workforce administration for mid-sized organizations. The company’s integrated platform automates core functions such as payroll processing, benefits administration, time and labor tracking, and compliance management, enabling employers to manage employee data more efficiently and reduce administrative burdens.

In addition to payroll and HR capabilities, Paylocity offers talent management solutions including recruiting, onboarding, performance tracking, and learning management.