LPL Financial LLC Has $158.28 Million Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 571,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,987 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.14% of Automatic Data Processing worth $158,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ADP shares. Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $305.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $124.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.12 and a 52-week high of $309.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $289.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $265.87.

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

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. This is a positive change 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 presently 65.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 96,946 shares of company stock valued at $27,462,781. 0.21% of the stock is 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.