Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Increases Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 332.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 623,341 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 479,145 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.15% of Automatic Data Processing worth $172,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $964,989,000 after buying an additional 435,093 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $846,912,000 after acquiring an additional 139,561 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,556,377 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $610,182,000 after acquiring an additional 9,464 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $640,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,202 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,296,344 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $548,099,000 after purchasing an additional 269,986 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP traded down $1.05 on Wednesday, reaching $306.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,515,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,636,188. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.12 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The company has a market cap of $125.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $290.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $267.03.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 2.01%. 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 currently 59.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $5,253,553.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,464,384.66. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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.