Lafayette Investments Inc. Purchases 191 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 414,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $96,670,000 after buying an additional 45,303 shares during the period. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 8,557 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $619,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 87,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $20,368,000 after acquiring an additional 23,173 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $265.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at $23,959,908.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at $23,959,908.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,816,946. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $275.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.52 billion, a PE ratio of 30.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.53 and a 52 week high of $276.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $253.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 62.50%.

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.