Xponance Inc. Increases Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 90,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,496 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $20,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,010,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,629,852,000 after purchasing an additional 794,328 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,085,849,000 after acquiring an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 94,265.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,770,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,617,256,000 after acquiring an additional 6,763,553 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,327,000 after acquiring an additional 77,187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total value of $173,104.42. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $485,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $241.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,411,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,807,853. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $239.18. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.46 and a 52 week high of $256.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.19%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.