Brown Financial Advisors Acquires New Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,698,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 1st quarter worth $365,757,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 649,791 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,797,000 after acquiring an additional 552,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,749,000 after acquiring an additional 456,027 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $267.83.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 1.2 %

ADP opened at $280.08 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $268.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $114.63 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.53 and a 52 week high of $281.54.

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 business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.50%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,959,908.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 58,817 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,208. Corporate insiders own 0.26% 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.