Sound Income Strategies LLC Boosts Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 66.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 821 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $35,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other 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 directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $297.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $121.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $297.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADP. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 19th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing 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.