B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Purchases Shares of 47,253 Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 47,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,076,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 247,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,804,000 after purchasing an additional 4,253 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% during the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at $209,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,084 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,440,548.48. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. This represents a 7.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 97,792 shares of company stock worth $27,691,708. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADP opened at $297.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.12 and a 1 year high of $309.37. The company has a market capitalization of $121.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $287.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $264.53.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid 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 is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 59.77%.

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.