Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Boosts Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $16,951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after acquiring an additional 15,340 shares during the period. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at about $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $951,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. The trade was a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock opened at $304.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $297.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.26. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $311.67.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.55.

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.