Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 60 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,454 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $4,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Curbstone Financial Management Corp lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 10.9% in the first quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 5,321 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 20.0% in the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 9.3% in the first quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.6% in the first quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,502 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,209,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 13.1% in the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 15,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. TD Securities upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $314.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.80, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $306.37 and its 200-day moving average is $302.82. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $329.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

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.