Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Shares Acquired by Johnson Financial Group Inc.

Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,883 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,085,849,000 after acquiring an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,327,000 after buying an additional 77,187 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,703,000 after buying an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $253.00 to $251.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock traded down $2.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $248.90. 973,940 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,279,904. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $241.31. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $205.53 and a one year high of $256.84. The company has a market cap of $101.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.