Garner Asset Management Corp Grows Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Garner Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.6% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 80,755 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,167,000 after buying an additional 9,653 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 8.4% in the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,859,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 8.0% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 40,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,065,000 after buying an additional 2,989 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 19.0% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 5,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,321,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the period. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter worth about $365,757,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADP opened at $305.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.34 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.02. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.12 and a 1-year high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 59.77%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,946 shares of company stock worth $27,462,781. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.