Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 106.0% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 43.4% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 228 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 323.2% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock opened at $246.31 on Tuesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.46 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

Automatic Data Processing Company Profile

Automatic Data Processing, Inc provides cloud-based human capital management solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Employer Services and Professional Employer Organization (PEO). The Employer Services segment offers strategic, cloud-based platforms, and human resources (HR) outsourcing solutions.