Boston Family Office LLC Sells 228 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Boston Family Office LLC lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 71,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 228 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing makes up 1.3% of Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $19,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $964,989,000 after purchasing an additional 435,093 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $846,912,000 after purchasing an additional 139,561 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,556,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,182,000 after purchasing an additional 9,464 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $640,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,202 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,296,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $548,099,000 after purchasing an additional 269,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADP. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $305.15 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $289.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $266.18. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37. The company has a market cap of $124.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

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.