Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Takes Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,159 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $632,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,098,541,000 after purchasing an additional 424,328 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 286,080 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,238,526 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $896,197,000 after acquiring an additional 41,709 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted 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 purchasing an additional 449,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $302.30.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock traded up $3.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $305.43. 1,373,585 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,465,299. The stock has a market cap of $124.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $322.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.02.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (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 analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is 64.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 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. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,951 shares of company stock valued at $1,762,074 over the last three months. 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.