Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Purchases 7,080 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 121.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,898 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,080 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,916,000. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 21,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,178,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 156,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $45,791,000 after buying an additional 36,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RDA Financial Network bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,508,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.7 %

ADP stock traded up $2.15 on Friday, hitting $298.38. 363,318 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,524,844. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $298.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.45. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $121.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. 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 results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

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.