Empirical Asset Management LLC Has $9.36 Million Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 71.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,287 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $9,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 68,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,128,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 19,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,692,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 10,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after buying an additional 3,708 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 43,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,837,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ADP. Mizuho lifted 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 lifted 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 note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $296.23 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $298.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $279.45. The company has a market cap of $120.70 billion, a PE 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. The trade was a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.