Arkadios Wealth Advisors Increases Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth approximately $314,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter worth $1,032,000. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 28.5% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 68,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,250,000 after buying an additional 3,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.8% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 120,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,826,000 after buying an additional 4,427 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total value of $290,447.16. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,958 shares in the company, valued at $1,723,589.82. This represents a 14.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $296.18 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The company has a market capitalization of $120.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.74%.

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.