Elevate Capital Advisors LLC Invests $1.36 Million in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Elevate Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 11,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,276,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at about $394,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 29,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 26,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,899,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ADP. Mizuho boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted 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 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. Barclays upped their price target 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, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

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

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $305.97 on Monday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $311.67. The stock has a market cap of $124.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. 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 50-day moving average of $297.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $286.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.23%.

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.