Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. Boosts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. raised its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,177 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,401 shares during the quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $209,000. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $708,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after buying an additional 15,340 shares during the period. RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $470,000. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,781 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $311.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $300.24 and a 200-day moving average of $291.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $126.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $315.29.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 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, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Mizuho boosted 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 report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. The trade was a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.