MJP Associates Inc. ADV Boosts Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 88,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,861,000 after purchasing an additional 5,273 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the period. Clark & Stuart Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth approximately $845,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of ADP opened at $308.01 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.31. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.88 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.05%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,451 shares of company stock worth $743,024 in the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.55.

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.