Arlington Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Arlington Partners LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing makes up approximately 1.7% of Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Arlington Partners LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $4,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 22,917 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,708,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the period. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,744,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $929,007.90. This represents a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 1.0 %

ADP stock opened at $305.97 on Monday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $311.67. 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 has a market capitalization of $124.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.66.

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, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

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.