Diversified Enterprises LLC Purchases 84 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Diversified Enterprises LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 84 shares during the quarter. Diversified Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $291.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $118.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $302.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $294.58. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. This represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 over the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays upped 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.18.

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.