Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.54 (NASDAQ:ADP)

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 1.54 per share by the business services provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Automatic Data Processing has increased its dividend by an average of 14.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 49 consecutive years. Automatic Data Processing has a payout ratio of 56.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Automatic Data Processing to earn $10.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.1%.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $296.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.70 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $298.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $279.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on 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, UBS Group raised their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently 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.