Breed s Hill Capital LLC Makes New $444,000 Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Breed s Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,085,849,000 after purchasing an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,327,000 after acquiring an additional 77,187 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after purchasing an additional 553,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,703,000 after purchasing an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,966 shares of company stock valued at $749,524. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ADP. Bank of America raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP traded up $2.21 on Thursday, hitting $245.15. 1,020,238 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,765,245. The company has a market cap of $100.34 billion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $245.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.97. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.53 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 93.09%. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

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.