Maria Black Sells 721 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Stock

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

ADP opened at $288.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.78, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $298.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $277.66. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63. 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 (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Automatic Data Processing

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 21,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,074,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 11.2% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,278,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 9.3% in the second quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 2,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.4% in the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 9,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,366,000 after buying an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Finally, Gallacher Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 184.9% during the 2nd quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 3,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $881,000 after buying an additional 2,396 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% 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.