Cambridge Trust Co. Grows Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cambridge Trust Co. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 56,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $13,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $485,520.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ ADP traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $241.76. The stock had a trading volume of 417,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,805,162. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.46 and a 52-week high of $256.84. The company has a market cap of $99.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 95.22% and a net margin of 19.14%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.19%.

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.