Abacus Planning Group Inc. Buys 61 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,368 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 4,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 975 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,543,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $825,487,000 after purchasing an additional 649,791 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 27,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,419,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 2,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 74,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,448,000 after buying an additional 1,646 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.83.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,816,946. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $283.55 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $283.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $269.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. 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.