Short Interest in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) Grows By 32.7%

Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,190,000 shares, a growth of 32.7% from the January 31st total of 896,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 429,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company's shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paylocity news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 13,689 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.29, for a total transaction of $2,782,836.81. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,385,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,704,780,588.66. This represents a 0.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 54,654 shares of company stock worth $11,067,608 in the last quarter. Insiders own 21.91% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCTY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Paylocity by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 856,536 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $141,303,000 after buying an additional 385,625 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Paylocity by 138.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 650,599 shares of the software maker's stock worth $129,775,000 after purchasing an additional 377,835 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Paylocity by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,332,213 shares of the software maker's stock worth $265,737,000 after purchasing an additional 320,319 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Paylocity by 190.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 349,797 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $69,774,000 after purchasing an additional 229,179 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Paylocity by 283.8% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 309,761 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $51,101,000 after buying an additional 229,057 shares in the last quarter. 94.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

PCTY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $254.00 price objective (up from $212.00) on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Paylocity from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Paylocity from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.25.

Paylocity Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PCTY traded up $4.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $195.11. 369,910 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 490,603. The stock has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Paylocity has a fifty-two week low of $129.94 and a fifty-two week high of $223.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $203.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.96.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.60). Paylocity had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 22.45%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Paylocity will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Paylocity

Paylocity Holding Corporation engages in the provision of cloud-based human capital management and payroll software solutions for workforce in the United States. The company offers payroll software solution for global payroll, expense management, tax services, on demand payment, and garnishment managed services; and time and labor management software for time and attendance, scheduling, and time collection.