Short Interest in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Expands By 6.6%

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,810,000 shares, an increase of 6.6% from the January 15th total of 5,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.7 %

ADP opened at $308.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Automatic Data Processing has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $311.67.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total transaction of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Automatic Data Processing

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,750,000 after buying an additional 15,340 shares during the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth $470,000. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at $708,000. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.