Unique Wealth LLC Buys 493 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Unique Wealth LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. Unique Wealth LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ADP shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen raised their price objective 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total transaction of $290,447.16. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,723,589.82. This represents a 14.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,062 shares of company stock valued at $12,299,550. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.2 %

ADP opened at $290.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $278.98.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. Analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

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.