Allstate Corp Acquires Shares of 1,557 Paycom Software, Inc. (NYSE:PAYC)

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Paycom Software, Inc. (NYSE:PAYC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,557 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Paycom Software by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 326,018 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $54,305,000 after buying an additional 41,187 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paycom Software during the fourth quarter worth about $7,142,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Paycom Software by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 204,377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $41,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,916 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Trust co grew its position in Paycom Software by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 12,294 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Paycom Software during the fourth quarter worth $776,000. 87.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on Paycom Software from $193.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp raised Paycom Software from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Paycom Software from $229.00 to $221.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Paycom Software from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Paycom Software from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $212.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bradley Scott Smith sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.01, for a total transaction of $603,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 28,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,775,620.33. This represents a 9.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director J C. Watts, Jr. sold 500 shares of Paycom Software stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.22, for a total transaction of $109,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,686,840.60. The trade was a 6.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,100 shares of company stock worth $1,476,024. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company’s stock.

Paycom Software Stock Down 1.1 %

PAYC stock opened at $218.58 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $212.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.67. The stock has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.97. Paycom Software, Inc. has a twelve month low of $139.50 and a twelve month high of $242.74.

Paycom Software (NYSE:PAYC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The software maker reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.03. Paycom Software had a return on equity of 33.53% and a net margin of 26.66%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Paycom Software, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paycom Software Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Paycom Software’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.85%.

Paycom Software Profile

Paycom Software, Inc provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution delivered as software-as-a-service for small to mid-sized companies in the United States. It offers functionality and data analytics that businesses need to manage the employment life cycle from recruitment to retirement.