Whipplewood Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $209,000. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth about $708,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,750,000 after acquiring an additional 15,340 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $470,000. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ADP shares. Mizuho upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued 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 Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 1.2 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $315.18 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $316.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $300.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $291.92. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $128.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 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.