Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Buys 169 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $217,670,000 after acquiring an additional 930,199 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,703,000 after acquiring an additional 905,043 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,402,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $337,416,000 after purchasing an additional 555,184 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $107,401,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 1.2 %

ADP opened at $246.31 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $247.15 and a 200 day moving average of $239.21. The company has a market cap of $101.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.46 and a 12 month high of $256.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ADP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. 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 note on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.