Promus Capital LLC Makes New $484,000 Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,653 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 95.7% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 773 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 22.6% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,170 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Balentine LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.9% in the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 3,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the third quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 31,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,696,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.18.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $310.43 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $322.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $301.77 and its 200 day moving average is $293.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $126.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

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.