Rafferty Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,111 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $23,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,923,265,000 after acquiring an additional 277,324 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 65,965 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,807,438,000 after acquiring an additional 902,354 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,796,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,137,710,000 after acquiring an additional 219,032 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $303.55.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock opened at $315.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50-day moving average is $297.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.05%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at $2,218,112.80. This trade represents a 6.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024. Corporate 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.