Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $7.01 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,549 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 93.4% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 88,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,977,000 after buying an additional 42,495 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 10,374 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,591,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. InterOcean Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 4,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,210,000 after buying an additional 912 shares during the period. Natixis boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 232.5% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 39,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,920,000 after buying an additional 27,778 shares during the period. Finally, Ossiam boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1,487.5% during the 1st quarter. Ossiam now owns 124,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,027,000 after buying an additional 116,410 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $297.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37.

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

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 59.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ADP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. The trade was a 23.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708 in the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by 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.