Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $255.42.

Several research firms have weighed in on ADP. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADP opened at $245.12 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $245.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.95. The company has a market capitalization of $100.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total value of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,966 shares of company stock valued at $749,524 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Automatic Data Processing

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,224,713,000 after buying an additional 412,434 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,085,849,000 after buying an additional 198,008 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after buying an additional 288,234 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,492,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,279,570,000 after buying an additional 249,566 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.