Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Acquires 465 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ADP. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708 in the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

ADP stock opened at $307.91 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $284.74 and a 200-day moving average of $262.46. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.09 and a fifty-two week high of $309.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 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.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. 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 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 59.77%.

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.