Veracity Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Veracity Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 881 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the quarter. Veracity Capital LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted 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 increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on 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, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $297.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $121.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $297.14 and a 200 day moving average of $281.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

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.