Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 13,752 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 25.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,752 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $14,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signet Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 3,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. PFS Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. PFS Investments Inc. now owns 1,396 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 2,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Stokes Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 4,595 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. 79.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ADP. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $235.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $275.00 to $285.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. UBS Group began coverage on Automatic Data Processing in a report on Friday, June 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $230.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $240.00 to $260.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $249.57.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of ADP stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $248.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 604,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,791,696. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.81. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $201.46 and a one year high of $274.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $244.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The business services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.06. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 107.15% and a net margin of 18.94%. The company had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 60.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 17,326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.03, for a total value of $4,418,649.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 70,782 shares in the company, valued at $18,051,533.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Maria Black sold 17,326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.03, for a total transaction of $4,418,649.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 70,782 shares in the company, valued at $18,051,533.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 58,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.42, for a total value of $14,740,722.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 44,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,233,590.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 117,835 shares of company stock worth $29,763,730. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.