RWA Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 1,938 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,309 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,938 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $13,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third 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. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% during the fourth quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $300.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.32. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The firm has a market cap of $122.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.30.

Automatic Data Processing 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.