Cullen Investment Group LTD. Invests $208,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 712 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,682,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 23,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after buying an additional 2,806 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,044,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 237.6% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Mizuho raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.5 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $291.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.35. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $309.63. 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 (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $1.54 dividend. This is an increase 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 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.