Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.40 (NASDAQ:ADP)

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the business services provider on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%.

Automatic Data Processing has raised its dividend by an average of 12.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 48 years. Automatic Data Processing has a payout ratio of 56.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Automatic Data Processing to earn $10.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.3%.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $258.91. 1,874,876 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,693,099. The company has a market capitalization of $105.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.22. Automatic Data Processing has a one year low of $205.53 and a one year high of $269.49.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing will post 10.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $253.00 to $251.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $262.18.

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.