Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ADP. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.2 %

ADP stock opened at $290.20 on Tuesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $298.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.98.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.74%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total value of $290,447.16. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,723,589.82. This represents a 14.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,062 shares of company stock worth $12,299,550 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.