GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 929 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their target price 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.1 %

ADP stock opened at $289.65 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $118.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $298.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $276.30. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing 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.