Stratos Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 1.1 %

ADP opened at $308.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $297.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $311.67.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. On average, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 64.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ADP shares. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.55.

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.