Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Increases Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 325 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $296.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $297.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 3.47 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.74%.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.