Alta Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Alta Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,513,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $679,675,000 after acquiring an additional 69,042 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 74,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,825,000 after acquiring an additional 4,078 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $821,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. now owns 129,498 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,432,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ADP shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $318.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.83 billion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $301.15 and a 200-day moving average of $292.72. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $320.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.