736 Shares in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Acquired by Second Half Financial Partners LLC

Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 736 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. 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 note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $297.00 on Tuesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $287.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.53.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for 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%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,816,946. The trade was a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This represents a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.