Marshall Financial Group LLC Boosts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 805 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after purchasing an additional 15,340 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at approximately $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at approximately $951,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $297.10 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $282.43. 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 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63. 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 posted 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. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.