Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 683,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,604 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.17% of Automatic Data Processing worth $200,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% during the 4th quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on ADP shares. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 over the last 90 days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $306.54 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $296.84. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $322.84. The stock has a market cap of $124.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 64.23%.

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.