Meridian Wealth Management LLC Makes New $754,000 Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $754,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,946 shares of company stock valued at $27,462,781 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ADP. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP opened at $305.15 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.12 and a 1 year high of $309.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $289.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

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.