Abbrea Capital LLC Raises Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Abbrea Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,085,849,000 after buying an additional 198,008 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,327,000 after acquiring an additional 77,187 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $855,287,000 after acquiring an additional 553,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,703,000 after purchasing an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.3 %

Automatic Data Processing stock traded down $3.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $243.07. 1,513,017 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,793,327. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $205.53 and a 12 month high of $256.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $246.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $239.31. The company has a market cap of $99.85 billion, a PE ratio of 28.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.78.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.96 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total value of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859. Corporate insiders own 0.26% 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.