Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $5.16 Million Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,622 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price 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, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. The trade was a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 in the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $296.18 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $281.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $120.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted 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 business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.