Icon Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1,159.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 114,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 105,729 shares during the period. Automatic Data Processing accounts for about 1.2% of Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $31,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% in the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $640,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,202 shares in the last quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at about $365,757,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,305,780,000 after buying an additional 1,190,407 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,797,000 after buying an additional 552,096 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $153,749,000 after buying an additional 456,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 2.0 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $304.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.12 and a fifty-two week high of $309.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $288.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.44.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,946 shares of company stock valued at $27,462,781 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

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.