J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneva Partners LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $1,368,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $390,000. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 32,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,590,000 after buying an additional 10,586 shares during the period. Tanager Wealth Management LLP boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 1,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 3,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $243.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.46 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $247.22 and a 200 day moving average of $239.22.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859 over the last 90 days. 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.