Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Grows Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.4% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 2nd quarter valued at $96,000. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.4% in the second quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 2,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 14.9% during the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 965 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $306.93 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $292.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $268.30. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.12 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 59.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This represents a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 70,504 shares of company stock worth $20,298,056. 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.