Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Buys 600 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 37.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in 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. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $300.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $122.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $283.65. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $311.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.