D.B. Root & Company LLC Has $4.25 Million Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

D.B. Root & Company LLC cut its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,817 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,353 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing accounts for about 1.5% of D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $4,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heritage Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 5,254 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% during the first quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 5,581 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Patron Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.6% during the first quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 2,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Morningstar Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 2,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ADP. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $262.18.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP traded down $3.06 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $259.12. 1,257,055 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,691,443. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $205.53 and a twelve month high of $269.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

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.