Wedmont Private Capital Grows Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 67.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,545 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 2,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Clark & Stuart Inc purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at $845,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 66.8% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 88,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,861,000 after acquiring an additional 5,273 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $290.20 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $298.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.98. The company has a market cap of $118.24 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,062 shares of company stock worth $12,299,550 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Mizuho increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

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.