Invesco Ltd. Purchases 219,032 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 219,032 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,137,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,923,265,000 after acquiring an additional 277,324 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,098,305,000 after buying an additional 65,965 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 449,431 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $679,675,000 after acquiring an additional 69,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $455,993,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

ADP stock opened at $286.13 on Monday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $322.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $304.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $116.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,364 shares of company stock worth $1,613,094 over the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.