Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,565 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Paylocity were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Paylocity by 195.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,280 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Paylocity by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,144,262 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $753,012,000 after acquiring an additional 25,562 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paylocity during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,023,000. Walleye Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Paylocity by 132.0% during the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 14,623 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,657,000 after purchasing an additional 8,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 98.6% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,771 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,600,000 after purchasing an additional 7,828 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on PCTY. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Paylocity in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paylocity from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Paylocity from $180.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Paylocity from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $196.67.

Insider Activity at Paylocity

In other Paylocity news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 24,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.47, for a total value of $4,299,716.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,587,872 shares in the company, valued at $1,682,383,899.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Paylocity news, CEO Steven R. Beauchamp sold 7,760 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total value of $1,295,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,746,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $291,572,832.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 24,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.47, for a total value of $4,299,716.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,587,872 shares in the company, valued at $1,682,383,899.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,547 shares of company stock worth $9,356,359 in the last ninety days. 22.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Paylocity Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PCTY opened at $163.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.61, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.88. Paylocity Holding Co. has a one year low of $139.40 and a one year high of $230.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $162.71.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The software maker reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.08. Paylocity had a net margin of 14.42% and a return on equity of 22.08%. The company had revenue of $326.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.34 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Paylocity

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.