Investors in Paylocity Holding Corp (Symbol: PCTY) have recently seen new options begin trading, specifically for the May 2026 expiration. One of the crucial factors influencing the price an option buyer is willing to pay is the time value. With 231 days until expiration, these newly traded contracts present a potential opportunity for sellers of puts or calls to secure a higher premium compared to contracts with shorter expirations. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has analyzed the PCTY options chain for these new May 2026 contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.
The put contract at the $160.00 strike price currently has a bid of $13.20. If an investor chooses to sell-to-open this put contract, they commit to purchasing the stock at $160.00 while also collecting the premium. This arrangement effectively lowers the cost basis of the shares to $146.80 (before broker commissions). For an investor already interested in acquiring shares of PCTY, this could be an appealing alternative to paying the current market price of $163.88 per share.
Since the $160.00 strike price represents an approximate 2% discount to the current trading price, there is a possibility that the put contract may expire worthless. Current analytical data, including greeks and implied greeks, suggest a 63% chance of this occurring. Stock Options Channel will monitor these odds over time and publish a chart of these figures on our website under the contract detail page for this contract. Should the contract expire worthless, the premium would yield an 8.25% return on the cash commitment, or 13.04% annualized — a concept we refer to as YieldBoost.
Below is a chart illustrating the trailing twelve-month trading history for Paylocity Holding Corp, highlighting in green where the $160.00 strike is positioned relative to that history:
Shifting focus to the calls side of the options chain, the call contract at the $175.00 strike price has a current bid of $14.00. If an investor purchases shares of PCTY stock at the current price of $163.88 per share and sells-to-open that call contract as a “covered call,” they commit to selling the stock at $175.00. Including the premium collected, this would result in a total return (excluding dividends) of 15.33% if the stock is called away at the May 2026 expiration (before broker commissions). However, significant upside could be left on the table if PCTY shares appreciate substantially, making it essential to analyze both the trailing twelve-month trading history and the business fundamentals.
Below is a chart showing PCTY’s trailing twelve-month trading history, with the $175.00 strike highlighted in red:
The $175.00 strike represents an approximate 7% premium to the current trading price, indicating that the covered call contract may also expire worthless. In this scenario, the investor would retain both their shares and the premium collected. Current analytical data suggest a 50% chance of this happening. Stock Options Channel will track these odds over time and publish a chart of these figures on our website under the contract detail page for this contract. If the covered call contract expires worthless, the premium would represent an 8.54% boost to the investor’s return, or 13.50% annualized, which we also refer to as YieldBoost.
The implied volatility for the put contract example stands at 37%, while the call contract example shows an implied volatility of 35%. Meanwhile, we calculate the actual trailing twelve-month volatility (based on the last 250 trading days and today’s price of $163.88) to be 30%. For more put and call options contract ideas worth exploring, visit StockOptionsChannel.com.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
