Shum Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 949 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ADP. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded down $0.48 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $304.67. 3,078,716 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,639,292. The company has a market capitalization of $124.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $290.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.12 and a 52-week high of $309.37.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

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.