Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Has $1.40 Million Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 208 shares during the quarter. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at $23,959,908.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.4 %

ADP traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $303.92. The company had a trading volume of 53,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,630,231. The company has a market capitalization of $123.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $282.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $261.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $223.28 and a 52 week high of $306.71.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

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.