MAI Capital Management Grows Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 118.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,818 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 19,926 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $10,189,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 10,374 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,591,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 4,846 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,210,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the period. Natixis boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 232.5% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 39,723 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,920,000 after acquiring an additional 27,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ossiam increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 116,410 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.1 %

ADP stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $297.54. 1,735,345 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,631,215. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $287.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $264.53. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $227.12 and a 52 week high of $309.37. The company has a market cap of $121.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. The firm's revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is 59.77%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup raised 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $289.91.

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.