Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Grows Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 24.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ADP. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the third quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 2,372 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Petredis Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,902,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were 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 owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho lifted their price target 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. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $307.32 on Tuesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $311.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $297.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $284.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

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.