Claro Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Claro Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 926 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,769,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,932,020,000 after acquiring an additional 173,298 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,492,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,279,570,000 after purchasing an additional 249,566 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,625,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $905,354,000 after buying an additional 81,869 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,715,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $678,601,000 after buying an additional 589,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,556,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $610,182,000 after acquiring an additional 9,464 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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, August 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $265.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.9 %

ADP stock opened at $275.91 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $253.82 and its 200 day moving average is $249.13. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $276.77. The stock has a market cap of $112.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis 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.