Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID Boosts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,670,000 after acquiring an additional 930,199 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,703,000 after buying an additional 905,043 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 555,184 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $107,401,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on ADP shares. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.36.

Insider Activity

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

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $243.07 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $246.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $205.53 and a one year high of $256.84. The company has a market cap of $99.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

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.