Meritage Portfolio Management Takes Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,820 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 10,832.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 3,033 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 3,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $923,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 283.6% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 17,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,304,000 after purchasing an additional 13,228 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at approximately $874,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on ADP. Wolfe Research upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock traded down $1.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $244.68. The company had a trading volume of 692,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,782,596. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50 day moving average of $246.89 and a 200 day moving average of $239.31. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The company had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 65.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at $4,380,645. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.