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

Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $273.50.

ADP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $248.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $295.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $230.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $240.00 to $286.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 631 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.87, for a total value of $178,490.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 18,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,324,744.88. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.70, for a total transaction of $33,564.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 18,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,158,227.40. This trade represents a 0.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,773 shares of company stock worth $9,450,629. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22,166.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 140,971,822 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,570,640,000 after acquiring an additional 140,338,719 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth $8,097,229,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,940,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,903,769,000 after purchasing an additional 133,039 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,576,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,977,777,000 after purchasing an additional 136,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,393,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,159,088,000 after purchasing an additional 372,413 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $265.22 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $264.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.50. Automatic Data Processing has a 1-year low of $188.16 and a 1-year high of $299.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $105.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.82.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.44 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 20.11% and a return on equity of 71.34%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. Automatic Data Processing has set its FY 2027 guidance at 12.120-12.340 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing will post 12.26 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

About Automatic Data Processing

Automatic Data Processing, Inc (NASDAQ: ADP) is a provider of human capital management (HCM) solutions and business outsourcing services. The company helps organizations manage payroll, employment taxes, human resources administration, employee benefits, workforce management, talent management, and compliance.

ADP offers cloud-based products for businesses of different sizes, including payroll and HR platforms, time and attendance tools, recruiting and talent solutions, benefits administration, and data and analytics services.