Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Boosts Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 145,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,922 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $44,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMG National Trust Bank increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 11,334 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,318,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Sentinus LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 3,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,079,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 593 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,266,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,158,682.96. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ADP shares. TD Securities raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. 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 report on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $312.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $306.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $302.88. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $329.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.05%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.