D.A. Davidson & CO. Acquires 1,162 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 259,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,162 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. owned about 0.06% of Automatic Data Processing worth $71,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% in the third quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,902,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 70,504 shares of company stock worth $20,298,056 over the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $304.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.51, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.12 and a 52-week high of $309.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $290.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.60.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

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.