1,673 Shares in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Purchased by Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 32,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,590,000 after purchasing an additional 10,586 shares during the period. Tanager Wealth Management LLP lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 1,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 3,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 101.4% during the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 90,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $20,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ADP. Wolfe Research raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at $4,876,970. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ADP traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $243.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,638,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,816,781. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.46 and a 12 month high of $256.84. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $99.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.