Principal Securities Inc. Boosts Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,041 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,156 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ADP shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen upped 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $293.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock traded down $1.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $310.76. 1,600,341 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,606,313. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $313.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $290.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. As a group, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

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.