Holocene Advisors LP Takes $160.92 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 581,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $160,920,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter valued at about $96,000. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.4% in the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 2,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 965 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $306.93 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $125.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $227.12 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company’s 50 day moving average is $292.45 and its 200 day moving average is $268.30.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 59.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADP. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of 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, StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,464,384.66. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,440,548.48. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,504 shares of company stock worth $20,298,056 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.