Summit Securities Group LLC Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,923,265,000 after purchasing an additional 277,324 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,098,541,000 after acquiring an additional 424,328 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,517,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,906,257,000 after purchasing an additional 286,080 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,120,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $910,972,000 after buying an additional 449,431 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $679,675,000 after purchasing an additional 69,042 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,951 shares of company stock valued at $1,762,074 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $300.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $322.84. The stock has a market cap of $122.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $303.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $296.32.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. Equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 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 Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.