Renaissance Technologies LLC Reduces Stake in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its stake in Paylocity Holding Co. (NASDAQ:PCTY) by 42.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 91,700 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 68,300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Paylocity were worth $18,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCTY. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Paylocity by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,029,402 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $803,745,000 after acquiring an additional 46,183 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 31.7% during the fourth 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paylocity by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,073,988 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $214,275,000 after acquiring an additional 25,182 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Paylocity by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 863,787 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $172,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,251 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 377,835 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.76% of the company’s stock.

Paylocity Stock Up 1.9 %

PCTY opened at $187.27 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.47 billion, a PE ratio of 48.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Paylocity Holding Co. has a 1 year low of $129.94 and a 1 year high of $223.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $196.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.30.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Paylocity Holding Co. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 26,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.91, for a total transaction of $5,116,777.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 420,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,862,200. This trade represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 21.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Paylocity from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $200.00 to $235.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $254.00 price target (up previously from $212.00) on shares of Paylocity in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Paylocity from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paylocity from $211.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Paylocity from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.25.

Paylocity Profile

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.