M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $418,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 43.2% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 169 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $296.18 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.29. The stock has a market cap of $120.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

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.