Cooper Financial Group Grows Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cooper Financial Group raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,114 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,750,000 after purchasing an additional 15,340 shares during the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at about $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,069,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $951,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.5 %

ADP stock opened at $291.69 on Wednesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $118.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $298.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 is 65.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. Corporate insiders own 0.21% 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.