MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 7,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,770,000. Automatic Data Processing makes up about 1.7% of MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $217,670,000 after acquiring an additional 930,199 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,703,000 after acquiring an additional 905,043 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,402,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $337,416,000 after acquiring an additional 555,184 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $855,287,000 after acquiring an additional 553,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $107,401,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,159,958.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total value of $173,104.42. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the sale, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,966 shares of company stock valued at $749,524. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

ADP stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $243.33. 338,734 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,770,749. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $245.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $99.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $205.53 and a 1 year high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.50%.

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.