Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Invests $957,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $957,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ADP shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $308.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $311.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $297.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. Sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total transaction of $704,869.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,007.90. This trade represents a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing 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.