Pegasus Asset Management Inc. Buys 99 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Pegasus Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Automatic Data Processing accounts for about 1.1% of Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 277,324 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,807,438,000 after buying an additional 902,354 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,796,415,000 after buying an additional 1,299,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,137,710,000 after buying an additional 219,032 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.08.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ ADP opened at $307.62 on Wednesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $329.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $308.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $302.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.79% and a return on equity of 77.33%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing 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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.