Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $507,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ADP. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at $120,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,988 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,631,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 73,361 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,475,000 after purchasing an additional 9,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 43,620 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,769,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ADP shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.18.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $291.76 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.74. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The company has a market cap of $118.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.23%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, 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 quarter, insiders sold 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.