D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 1,162 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 259,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $71,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $640,712,000 after buying an additional 2,264,202 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake 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 valued at $153,749,000 after purchasing an additional 456,027 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $964,989,000 after purchasing an additional 435,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,296,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $548,099,000 after purchasing an additional 269,986 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $5,253,553.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,464,384.66. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ADP. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $304.67 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $290.07 and its 200 day moving average is $266.60. The stock has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.12 and a 1-year high of $309.37. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

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.