Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,693 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 124,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,628,000 after purchasing an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 7.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 43,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,343,000 after buying an additional 3,151 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 585.8% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,632,000 after purchasing an additional 3,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price 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. TD Cowen raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,721.04. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. 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. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $300.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $282.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.03, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

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.