Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Raises Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 50,395 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $12,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,769,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,932,020,000 after buying an additional 173,298 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,492,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,279,570,000 after buying an additional 249,566 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,625,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $905,354,000 after buying an additional 81,869 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,715,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $678,601,000 after buying an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,556,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,182,000 after buying an additional 9,464 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ADP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $265.36.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,440,548.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,816,946. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,614 shares of company stock valued at $13,519,460. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ADP traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $270.91. 765,631 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,638,283. The company has a market cap of $110.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.53 and a fifty-two week high of $278.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $255.77 and its 200-day moving average is $249.62.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

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.