Moors & Cabot Inc. Purchases 85 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,600,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $298.59 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $288.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $265.16. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.12 and a 52-week high of $309.37. The firm has a market cap of $121.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ADP. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $5,253,553.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,464,384.66. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. Company insiders own 0.21% 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.