Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Receives $302.30 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $302.30.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ADP. Barclays increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a 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 research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. This trade represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total value of $290,447.16. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,723,589.82. This trade represents a 14.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,368 shares of company stock worth $1,903,541 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Automatic Data Processing

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,923,265,000 after purchasing an additional 277,324 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,098,541,000 after purchasing an additional 424,328 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,098,305,000 after buying an additional 65,965 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,807,438,000 after buying an additional 902,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,796,415,000 after buying an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 6.3 %

ADP opened at $286.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $304.41 and a 200-day moving average of $297.03. Automatic Data Processing has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The company has a market capitalization of $116.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. On average, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 64.23%.

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.