Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Purchases 275 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $764,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 92,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,037,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.7% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,927,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,682,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.3% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 5,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 14.1% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 500,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $119,383,000 after acquiring an additional 61,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $290.20 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $298.47 and its 200-day moving average is $278.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.74%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 14.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,062 shares of company stock valued at $12,299,550. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.