Automatic Data Processing Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ADP)

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 2,895 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 45% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,000 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.30.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $301.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $122.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $302.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.93. Automatic Data Processing has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,158,682.96. The trade was a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,775 shares of company stock worth $1,447,893 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Automatic Data Processing

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 202.7% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 4,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 3,261 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $310,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 15,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.5% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 9,935 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,466 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,066,000 after acquiring an additional 1,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

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.