LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Has $2.10 Million Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,810 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,960 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the second quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,302,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 5,254 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,581 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patron Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.6% in the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 2,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $265.36.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $275.59 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $249.83. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.53 and a 52 week high of $278.24. The stock has a market cap of $112.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total transaction of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $5,253,553.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at $25,464,384.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 58,817 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,208. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.