Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,668 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,294 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 247,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,804,000 after buying an additional 4,253 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after buying an additional 5,114 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of ADP opened at $301.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $123.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $227.12 and a 52 week high of $309.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $286.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.23.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 65.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.