Wedmont Private Capital Acquires 2,545 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 67.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,545 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,098,541,000 after buying an additional 424,328 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,517,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,906,257,000 after acquiring an additional 286,080 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $964,989,000 after acquiring an additional 435,093 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,912,000 after acquiring an additional 139,561 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,238,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,197,000 after purchasing an additional 41,709 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,062 shares of company stock worth $12,299,550. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $290.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $298.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.98.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.