B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Buys Shares of 47,253 Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 47,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,076,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 93.4% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 88,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,977,000 after purchasing an additional 42,495 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.5% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 10,374 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,591,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.2% in the first quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 4,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Natixis grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 232.5% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 39,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,920,000 after purchasing an additional 27,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ossiam grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1,487.5% in the first quarter. Ossiam now owns 124,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,027,000 after purchasing an additional 116,410 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This represents a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of ADP opened at $297.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $121.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average is $287.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.53. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.12 and a fifty-two week high of $309.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. Analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

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.