Partners Wealth Management LLC Invests $356,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Partners Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $209,000. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $708,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after buying an additional 15,340 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $470,000. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,961. This represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total transaction of $704,869.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,063 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold a total of 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADP. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $310.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $313.72. The stock has a market cap of $126.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $298.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.54.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

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.