Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 219,784 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 14,894 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Automatic Data Processing worth $60,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $640,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,202 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth $160,920,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 332.3% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 623,341 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $172,497,000 after acquiring an additional 479,145 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $153,749,000 after acquiring an additional 456,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing 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 sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP traded up $2.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $304.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,621,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,642,511. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $227.12 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $294.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $269.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.10 billion, a PE ratio of 32.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $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 fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. 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 currently 59.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ADP. Mizuho raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays increased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.