Empirical Finance LLC Increases Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $301.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $123.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.23, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $286.03 and its 200 day moving average is $263.23. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.12 and a 1-year high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.77%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value 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 represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock worth $27,691,708. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.