Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 8.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 282,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,420 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $78,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ADP. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 6.7% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at $376,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 976 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 46,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,665,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 104,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,168,000 after purchasing an additional 9,287 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $297.64 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $287.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $121.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.12 and a fifty-two week high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for 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 expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. This represents a 7.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $5,253,553.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,464,384.66. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.