AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Has $78.17 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 39.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 267,104 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 75,448 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing makes up about 1.0% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $78,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 71.0% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 15,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,703,000 after buying an additional 6,439 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 355,778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $84,921,000 after acquiring an additional 42,969 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.9% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 486,731 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,400,000 after acquiring an additional 13,683 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,844.7% in the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 29,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,923,000 after purchasing an additional 28,020 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

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

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

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ADP. Barclays raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

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.