DRW Securities LLC Invests $951,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,437 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $152,405,000 after acquiring an additional 264,466 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after acquiring an additional 5,114 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at $209,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,084 shares during the period. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at $470,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.2 %

ADP opened at $304.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.51, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $290.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $266.60.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.54 per share. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ADP. Barclays boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 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 $5,253,553.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,464,384.66. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.