JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) Target Price to $250.00

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) had its price objective trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $254.00 to $250.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

ADP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $241.89 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $245.63 and a 200 day moving average of $238.95. The company has a market cap of $99.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $256.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 93.09%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.15 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,829 shares of company stock valued at $965,274. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,224,713,000 after buying an additional 412,434 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,085,849,000 after acquiring an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,492,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,279,570,000 after acquiring an additional 249,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after purchasing an additional 553,946 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.