Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,492 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 62.0% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,234 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 38,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,394,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 986 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 848 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 126.2% during the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $989,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on ADP. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.30.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $302.41 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $295.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The company has a market cap of $123.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.