Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) Receives “Sector Perform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their sector perform rating on shares of Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $315.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock.

ADP has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.27.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.9 %

ADP stock opened at $303.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $123.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $311.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $297.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.77. 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 (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 81.85%. Research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 64.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,961. The trade was a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Automatic Data Processing

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter valued at about $16,589,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 43.2% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 63.9% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 144,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,418,000 after purchasing an additional 56,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth about $2,814,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.