Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) Stock Has Average Price Target of $165.53

Posted by Geri Gentry on Oct 24th, 2026

Shares of Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY – Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $166.71.

PCTY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group set a $175.00 target price on Paylocity in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. BTIG Research increased their price target on Paylocity from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Paylocity from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Paylocity from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Paylocity from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on PCTY

Paylocity Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ PCTY opened at $177.19 on Wednesday. Paylocity has a one year low of $92.99 and a one year high of $178.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $152.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.50.

Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $444.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.46 million. Paylocity had a net margin of 15.23% and a return on equity of 27.02%. Paylocity’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paylocity will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paylocity

In other news, Director Steven I. Sarowitz sold 19,459 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.78, for a total transaction of $3,070,241.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,453,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,672,441.10. This trade represents a 0.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joshua Scutt sold 4,730 shares of Paylocity stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 75,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,345,718.78. This trade represents a 5.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 119,214 shares of company stock valued at $19,164,836 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 19.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCTY. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Paylocity during the second quarter valued at approximately $430,315,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Paylocity in the second quarter worth $70,540,000. Amundi increased its stake in Paylocity by 9.5% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 663,449 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $69,350,000 after purchasing an additional 57,291 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Paylocity by 17.8% during the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 616,407 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $66,597,000 after purchasing an additional 93,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Paylocity during the second quarter valued at $54,906,000. 94.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Paylocity

Here are the key news stories impacting Paylocity this week:

Positive Sentiment: Paylocity launched its AI-powered Recruiting Optimizer, part of its Ignite AI platform. The company says the tool can improve recruiter productivity by 35%, accelerate hiring by 25% and reduce candidate drop-off by 15%, strengthening its competitive position in cloud-based human capital management software. Paylocity launches AI-powered Recruiting Optimizer
Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP raised its price target on PCTY from $150 to $180 while maintaining a “market outperform” rating, indicating confidence in further gains. Citizens JMP raises Paylocity price target
Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Paylocity’s history of exceeding earnings estimates and said the company currently has the key conditions needed for a potential beat in its next quarterly report. Zacks analysis of Paylocity earnings expectations
Positive Sentiment: Paylocity’s latest quarterly results beat consensus, with earnings of $1.84 per share versus $1.62 expected and revenue of $444.73 million versus $431.46 million expected. Revenue increased 11% year over year, supporting the company’s growth narrative.
Neutral Sentiment: Institutional ownership remains high at roughly 94.8%, while several investment firms initiated or expanded positions during the third quarter. The individual trades were relatively small but suggest continued institutional interest.
Negative Sentiment: Director Steven Sarowitz sold 10,617 shares for approximately $1.80 million on October 20 and 5,744 shares for about $978,000 on October 21, following an earlier sale of 10,445 shares. The transactions were executed under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, and Sarowitz still owns more than 4.39 million shares, making the sales a modest reduction in his stake; nevertheless, repeated insider selling can create some pressure while PCTY trades near its 52-week high. Paylocity director stock sale

About Paylocity

(Get Free Report)

Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) and payroll software for organizations. Its platform is designed to help employers manage payroll, human resources, employee benefits, talent acquisition, onboarding, performance, learning, and workforce administration through an integrated system.

The company also offers tools for time and labor management, scheduling, employee communications, engagement, surveys, expense management, and other workplace activities.