Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $254.58.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ADP. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, November 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADP opened at $244.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $245.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.98. Automatic Data Processing has a 1 year low of $201.46 and a 1 year high of $256.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.14 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.19%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,662 shares of company stock valued at $4,094,554. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Automatic Data Processing

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,224,713,000 after purchasing an additional 412,434 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,980,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,974,083,000 after purchasing an additional 321,355 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,010,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,629,852,000 after purchasing an additional 794,328 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,318,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,044,155,000 after purchasing an additional 297,397 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,085,849,000 after purchasing an additional 198,008 shares during the period. 79.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.