Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.40 (NASDAQ:ADP)

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the business services provider on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%.

Automatic Data Processing has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 48 consecutive years. Automatic Data Processing has a dividend payout ratio of 56.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Automatic Data Processing to earn $10.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.3%.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $258.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,874,876 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,693,099. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $245.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.22. The company has a market capitalization of $105.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing has a one year low of $205.53 and a one year high of $269.49.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing will post 10.01 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ADP. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $253.00 to $251.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $262.18.

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.