Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $302.30.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total transaction of $290,447.16. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,723,589.82. This trade represents a 14.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,368 shares of company stock worth $1,903,541. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth about $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $396,714,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,796,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $342,942,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 41,710.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,090,422 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $319,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,814 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $286.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $116.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.03. Automatic Data Processing has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 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.