Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Grows Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 343 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 20.1% during the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 7.5% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 7.5% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,415 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 9.8% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 152,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,626,000 after purchasing an additional 13,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pennsylvania Capital Management Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 31.8% in the third quarter. Pennsylvania Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 2,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $242.74. 1,108,750 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,788,093. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $205.53 and a 12 month high of $256.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $245.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.92. The company has a market cap of $99.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 93.09%. The company had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,829 shares of company stock valued at $965,274. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.