Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $8,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.7% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,385,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 999,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $276,519,000 after buying an additional 13,545 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 896.3% in the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 30,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,454,000 after purchasing an additional 27,482 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

ADP opened at $307.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $284.74 and a 200-day moving average of $262.46. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.09 and a fifty-two week high of $309.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $125.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 59.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,816,946. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 97,792 shares of company stock worth $27,691,708. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

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.