Grimes & Company Inc. Purchases 129 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,252 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 71.0% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 15,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,703,000 after buying an additional 6,439 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,844.7% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 29,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,923,000 after buying an additional 28,020 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 4,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 14,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,549,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised 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 note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $297.10 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $297.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $121.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.74%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.