Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Increases Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the period. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Waterway Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $233,000. PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 42,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,083,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 600,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $140,002,000 after purchasing an additional 233,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sendero Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ADP shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,662 shares of company stock worth $4,094,554. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.87 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $245.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,072,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,925,670. The company has a market cap of $100.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.46 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The business’s 50-day moving average is $246.02 and its 200 day moving average is $238.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 95.22% and a net margin of 19.14%. The company had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.19%.

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.