Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 82,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,846 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $22,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $209,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth $470,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock opened at $305.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $289.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.18. The firm has a market cap of $124.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.12 and a 1 year high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued 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 return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. 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. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ADP. Citigroup raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. This represents a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $5,253,553.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at $25,464,384.66. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056. Company 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.