Summit Securities Group LLC Acquires New Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter worth about $455,993,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $342,942,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 41,710.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,090,422 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $319,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087,814 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at $160,920,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,120,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $910,972,000 after purchasing an additional 449,431 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $300.83 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $303.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.32. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ADP shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.30.

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.