Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Acquires 329 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on ADP shares. StockNews.com upgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $291.89 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $277.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, 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 value of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,062 shares of company stock worth $12,299,550 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.