Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC Takes Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $561,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $291.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.35. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $309.63. 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 (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.