M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Purchases New Shares in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $418,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrive Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Seilern Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth $13,815,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 102.5% during the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,282 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,236,000 after buying an additional 5,712 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,974 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 4,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,271,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ADP. Citigroup upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $296.18 on Monday. 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 simple moving average of $297.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.29. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $120.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors 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 is 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.