Foster & Motley Inc. Purchases 161 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,407 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,589,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 43.2% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 144,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,418,000 after acquiring an additional 56,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,814,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $303.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $297.23 and a 200 day moving average of $283.77. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $311.67.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. As a group, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.27.

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.