Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Has $249,000 Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 848 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% during the 4th quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $296.18.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.2 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $299.38 on Wednesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $303.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.91.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.