Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 14th

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 1.54 per share by the business services provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Automatic Data Processing has raised its dividend by an average of 14.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 49 consecutive years. Automatic Data Processing has a dividend payout ratio of 56.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Automatic Data Processing to earn $10.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.1%.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $296.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $298.24 and a 200 day moving average of $279.45. The company has a market cap of $120.70 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This 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 valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.