Board of the Pension Protection Fund Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,054,000. Automatic Data Processing comprises approximately 1.2% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% in the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $640,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,202 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $160,920,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 332.3% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 623,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $172,497,000 after buying an additional 479,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,749,000 after buying an additional 456,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872 in the last 90 days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ADP. Barclays boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

ADP opened at $291.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $118.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $309.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $1.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

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.