Shum Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 949 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $152,405,000 after acquiring an additional 264,466 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after acquiring an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $470,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.2 %

Automatic Data Processing stock traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $304.67. 3,078,716 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,639,292. The company has a market cap of $124.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $227.12 and a twelve month high of $309.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $290.07 and a 200-day moving average of $266.60.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ADP shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.